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Iran ‘launched cluster missile' at Israel
Israel accused Iran of dropping a cluster-type bomb on civilians on Thursday, in what would mark Tehran 's first known use of such a warhead since the 1980s.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that at least one of the missiles that broke through its air defences and exploded in a densely populated area was carrying multiple warheads.
The early morning barrage was one of the worst since open warfare broke out between the two countries on Friday, as Iran launched some 20 ballistic missiles at Israel, with four direct hits.
Missiles carrying large warheads hit Soroka hospital in central Israel and buildings in Ramat Gan and Holon, near Tel Aviv, causing extensive damage and injuring hundreds of people.
A cluster bomb is a fragmentary warhead that splits while descending, scattering tens or hundreds of smaller warheads across a wide area, hitting multiple targets at once.
Israel said Iran deliberately attacked hospitals and residential buildings.
However, Iran claimed its 'main target' was an Israeli military and intelligence base, not civilians.
The use of cluster munitions is controversial as they often indiscriminately kill civilians, especially when many do not detonate on impact, instead sinking into the ground and exploding later.
They are banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions international treaty that prohibits their use, transfer, production and stockpiling. Both Israel and Iran have not signed the treaty.
The IDF's Home Front Command said the cluster bomb that was used broke into 20 smaller munitions that acted like rockets and spread across five miles.
Iran is not known to have used a cluster-type munition since 1984 during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and its use will likely be interpreted by Israel as a significant escalation.
An Israeli military official told The Times of Israel that such a weapon poses a threat to a much wider area than Iran's other ballistic missile warheads, yet the impact of each cluster bomb is far smaller.
If Iran has more such weapons in its arsenal, it could greatly complicate Israel's ability to defend itself as its stockpile of interceptor missiles is depleted further with each Iranian attack.
IDF officials are reportedly investigating whether Iran's Khorramshahr missile – considered Iran's most powerful missile and dubbed its 'Doomsday weapon' by Israeli media – was used to deliver the fragmentary warhead.
First tested in 2017, there had been no record of it being used in combat yet.
It is said to have the capability to carry a fragmentary warhead that can scatter around 80 small rocket projectiles across 1,200 miles.
The two countries are locked in an arms race. There are fears that Israel is burning through its missile interceptors faster than it can produce them, raising concerns that the country will run low before Iran empties its own ballistic arsenal.
Israel has already conserved its use of interceptors, giving priority to densely populated areas and strategic infrastructure, officials told The New York Times.
Iran is also facing its own shortage, firing between one third and half of its 2,000 to 3,000-missile stockpile, according to Israeli estimates.
As a result, Tehran has been forced to start firing missiles from central Iran, rather than in the west, which takes the weapons longer to reach their targets.
Iran has not publicly stated it has cluster weapons in its arsenal, however analysts say the country is known to have imported them and may have produced them.
According to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, a global watchdog, Iran likely stockpiles cluster munitions but has not shared information on the types and quantities in its possession.
Iran has claimed to possess multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) – ballistic missiles that carry multiple warheads that can target separate locations.
Russia's new Oreshnik ('Hazelnut') intermediate-range ballistic missile showcased this capability in Ukraine at the end of last year, with multiple warheads exploding on impact in synchronisation.
However, experts say there is no definitive evidence that Iran has MIRV technology that is operational.
Instead, Iran's systems are believed to operate more like cluster munitions than precision-guided weapons.
