- Factory owner Kamel Fahas returned after the war to find his property littered with lethal M-77 cluster submunitions
- “If MAG didn’t clear this land, we would have to do it ourselves,” he says
The town of Aadchit in southern Lebanon is especially well-known to MAG's 'searchers' – the technicians involved in locating and destroying cluster bombs – as it was among the most intensely bombed areas during the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
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Factory owner Kamel Fahas thanks everyone who has supported the clearance programmes to make his property safe: "This money is going to the right place: for construction." |
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Walid, a labourer, makes the grey bricks that are common in the newly constructed buildings dotting the region. [Photos: David Harbin / MAG] |
MAG staff can recall removing and destroying hundreds of cluster submunitions, which were scattered on streets and rooftops and in fields and trees immediately after the war. In all, there were 31 Cluster Bomb Unit Strike Locations (“CBU strikes”) in Aadchit.
Within one of the CBU strikes is a small brick factory that provides a livelihood for six workers and their families. Walid, a labourer, mixes concrete with a shovel, before it is put in a mould to dry and transform into the grey bricks that are common in the newly constructed buildings that dot the region.
The factory owner, Kamel Fahas, explains how he found his property after the war:
“There was a huge crater in the middle of the road, and I couldn’t reach the factory. I had to wait for a bulldozer to plow over the crater. When I finally reached it, I found a lot of shrapnel damage, broken stones, and many strange items.”
The items were lethal M-77 cluster submunitions, each about the size of a salt shaker with distinctive white ribbons. Fahas immediately called the Lebanese military, who in turn contacted the Mine Action Coordination Centre (MACC). As MAG was on the ground immediately after the war, the MACC tasked MAG’s teams with removing and destroying the items.
With the surface cleared of the bombs, Fahas repaired his property. Strong demand for construction supplies to repair war damage has kept the factory busy. Asked if the war was good for business, Fahas laughs: “We need peace more than good business!”
The fields immediately adjacent to the factory are taped off and marked for future subsurface clearance by MAG. Fahas points to them and says: “If MAG didn’t clear this land, we would have to do it ourselves.” He thanks everyone who has supported the clearance programmes: “This money is going to the right place: for construction.”
Your donation to MAG helps us to move into current and former conflict zones to clear the remnants of those conflicts, enabling recovery and assisting the development of affected populations.
Images from MAG's programme in Lebanon following the 2006 war which left the south of the country littered with unexploded munitions
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR. Photos: JB Russell / MAG.
Links:
- Why does MAG work in Lebanon?
- MAG Lebanon microsite - find out more about MAG's work in the country
- Donate to MAG online - more than 90 per cent of MAG's income is spent directly on clearance programmes
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28 May 09
MAG's work in Lebanon is supported by: German Government; Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; DFID (UK Government Department for International Development); Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
