Annan blasts Israel over use of cluster bombs

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today blasted Israel for using cluster bombs during its assaults on Lebanon.

He told reporters in Jordan, on the latest leg of a mission to save a fragile truce between Lebanon and Israel, that those kinds of weapons shouldn't be used against civilians.

Annan echoed criticism of Israeli military tactics by UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, who said Israel dropped hundreds of cluster bombs in the last days of the month-long conflict.

"What's shocking, and I would say completely immoral, is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution, when we knew there would be an end," Egeland said.

From Jordan, Annan heads to Syria to discuss implementation of the UN resolution which ended the 34-day war despite the US procrastination over wording of the resolution. The US believed that Israel will bring Lebanese resistance movement to an end in a matter of days, but to no avail.

Syria is critical to the success of the ceasefire owing to numerous cases of ceasefire violations by the occupying Israel.