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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Israel drops 'depleted uranium bombs' inside Beirut: Official</h1><p class="gmail-">Radioactive
dust emitted by depleted uranium munitions has been linked to rises in
cancer and congenital defects in babies following the US bombing of Iraq</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">News Desk</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span>OCT 8, 2024 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-drops-depleted-uranium-bombs-inside-beirut-official">https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-drops-depleted-uranium-bombs-inside-beirut-official</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/d9fd3c04-8553-11ef-8273-00163e02c055.jpeg" alt="" width="394" height="222" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>(Photo credit: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p>On
October 6, the head of the president of the Lebanese Association of
Social Medicine said Israel has been bombing the southern suburbs of
Beirut using banned bombs with uranium warheads and called for
collecting samples from the bombed sites to send to the UN as part of an
international investigation.</p><p>President of the Lebanese
Association of Social Medicine Raif Reda called for “collecting samples
from the bombing sites and sending reports to the United Nations so the
world can witness the bloody, criminal history of the Zionist enemy,”
according to statements <a href="https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1430194/has-israel-bombed-beiruts-southern-suburbs-with-depleted-uranium-munitions.html">reported</a> by the <i>National News Agency</i> (NNA).</p><p>Warheads
made with depleted uranium casings are designed to penetrate deep
fortifications, causing significant destruction and releasing toxic
gases. They are also radioactive and have been linked to massive
increases in cancer rates in Iraq following the US wars on that country
in 1991 and 2003.</p><p>Lebanese newspaper <i>L'Orient Today</i> <a href="https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1430194/has-israel-bombed-beiruts-southern-suburbs-with-depleted-uranium-munitions.html">reports</a>
that Israeli air forces may have used depleted uranium bombs when its
air force dropped 80 one-ton (2,000lb) bombs on at least four
residential buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27 to
kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.</p><p>The <i>New York Times</i> <a href="https://archive.ph/o/fz9x3/https:/www.nytimes.com/2024/09/28/world/middleeast/israel-nasrallah-bunker-buster-bombs.html">notes</a>
that a video released by the Israeli army showed that the warplanes
that flew the mission to assassinate Nasrallah were each equipped with
six US-made BLU-109 missiles.</p><p><i>L'Orient Today</i> notes that according to a <a href="https://archive.ph/o/fz9x3/https:/www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2024/october/closer-look-israels-use-80-bunker-buster-jdams-beirut">report</a> from the US Naval Institute, the most common type of explosives inside these missiles are bombs classified as GBU-31.</p><p>“These
guided munitions are known for their ability to penetrate heavily
reinforced concrete or steel structures thanks to a casing made of
depleted uranium (DU), used for its high density, which enhances the
bombs' resistance upon ground impact,” the Lebanese newspaper added.</p><p>The
Israeli air force has already been known to use these bombs in Gaza. A
report submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission documented the drop
of GBU-31, GBU-32, and GBU-39 bombs documented airstrikes by the Israeli
air force carried out on residential buildings, a school, refugee
camps, and a market between October 9 and December 2, 2023.</p><p>Depleted
uranium munitions pose a risk to civilians years after a site is bombed
because they release radioactive particles upon impact and contaminate
the soil and surrounding environment.</p><p>It is well known that the US Air Force used depleted uranium warheads during both its wars in Iraq.</p><p>Researcher
Souad al-Azzawi, an associate professor of environmental engineering at
Canadian University Dubai and former director of the doctoral program
in environmental engineering at the University of Baghdad, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268273134_Depleted_Uranium_Radioactive_Contamination_In_Iraq_An_Overview?ref=hir.harvard.edu">cites</a>
studies showing that children's leukemia cases increased by 60 percent
between 1990 and 1997 and that birth defects tripled between 1990 and
1998 in Basra, Iraq. </p><p>The US Air Force bombed Basra in response to
Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Al-Azzawi says that depleted
uranium used during such conflicts is responsible for the rise in cancer
and birth defects in the area.</p><p>Depleted uranium is one of the
most widely discussed contaminants in relation to birth defects. The
World Health Organization released a <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/who-briefing-note-potential-impact-conflict-health-iraq-mar-2003">report</a>
in 2003 titled “Potential Impact of Conflict on Health in Iraq,” which
suggested that depleted uranium might be related to reports of increased
cancers, birth defects, reproductive health problems, and renal
diseases in the Iraqi population since 2003.</p><p>The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) <a href="https://merip.org/2020/09/birth-defects-and-the-toxic-legacy-of-war-in-iraq/">reported</a>
that depleted uranium may be among the causes of a massive spike in
birth defects among children in Falluja, which US forces bombed heavily
during battles with insurgents in April and November 2004.</p><p>MERIP
noted that the Falluja Hospital's birth defects Facebook page, where
medical staff cataloged cases, revealed numerous different congenital
anomalies. Babies in Falluja are regularly <a href="https://x.com/FDefects">born</a> with hydrocephaly, cleft palates, tumors, elongated heads, overgrown limbs, short limbs, and malformed ears, noses, and spines.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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