State Department spokesman says report has been sent to Congress where lawmakers will decide whether to take further action

The State Department says Israel's use of American-made cluster bombs during its war with Hezbollah likely violated U.S. arms agreements.

A State Department spokesman Monday, reported the administration's preliminary findings regarding U.S. restrictions on the cluster bombs it exports. The spokesman said the report has been sent to Congress where lawmakers will decide whether to take further action.

BizVantage – Serious business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage.
Try the free, no-hassle 6 month trial!

The United Nations and human rights groups have condemned Israel for dropping the explosives into Lebanese neighborhoods during the war with Hezbollah fighters last August. The U.N. says there are at least 350,000 unexploded cluster bomblets in southern Lebanon.

Israel has defended dropping cluster munitions, saying militants were using civilians as human shields when launching rockets into Israeli cities. It also says it warned civilians of imminent military strikes.

Cluster bombs eject hundreds, even thousands of small explosives, spreading them over a wide area. Many of the bomblets do not detonate on impact, and can maim or kill people years later.

Several countries have proposed an international ban on the weapons. But at a conference last November in Norway, the United States, Australia, Britain, China, India, Japan, Pakistan and Russia rejected a proposal for holding negotiations on the issue.

The United States has taken action against Israeli use of cluster bombs before. It suspended exports of the weapons to Israel in 1982 when U.S. officials found that it was using the bombs in civilian areas in Lebanon and in Beirut. The suspension was lifted in 1988.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.