Cluster bombs were developed to improve the efficiency of bombing in aerial attacks, particularly against soft targets like soldiers or other personnel. Single bombs are less effective as they cover a smaller area (a "footprint" in military terms). A cluster bomb functions like a shotgun blast, covering a wider area with a spread of miniature bombs, or bomblets, released when its container, the parent munition, explodes.

Use of cluster bombs is hotly opposed by many individuals and groups, including the Red Cross and the United Nations, because of the high proportion of civilian casualties from this weapon. According to Handicap International, 98% of cluster bomb victims are civilians.

Sixty percent of American-made cluster bombs used in Lebanon failed to detonate upon hitting the ground. A single parent munition contains over 200 bomblets, leaving approximately 120 unexploded bomblets per munition dropped that become a waiting threat to the civilian population long after the initial conflict ends.

Israel dropped over 1,800 parent munitions onto Lebanon, carrying 1.2 million bomblets. Because of the cluster bombs' rate of failure to explode upon initial ground impact, many people claim Israel used cluster bombs as a new way to create minefields to keep Lebanese away from the Israeli border.

As of December, 2006, 22 people have been killed and 134 injured by unexploded ordnance in Lebanon. All of these were after the end of fighting and most are from cluster bombs. Most of the victims are young children, due to their curiosity and their inability to differentiate between ordnance and a harmless object. Their smaller body sizes also result in greater injury and increased likelihood of death.

Most of the parent munitions containing these bomblets were launched into Lebanon by the Multiple Launch Rockeet System, or MLRS. It is a track or wheeled mobile rocket launching platform that is capable of firing a very large number of mostly unguided munitions. Its use is controversial because of its inaccuracy and capabillity of covering large areas.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted the commander of an Israeli MLRS unit in Lebanon: "We covered entire villages with cluster bombs. What we did there was crazy and monstrous."

The same commander also told Haaretz that MLRS platforms were used in Lebanon despite being highly inaccurate. There can be as much as 1,200 meters away from the intended target and a high percentage of them don’t explode, in effect becoming land mines. The commander noted that reserve soldiers were shocked by the army’s decision to use MLRS rockets in Lebanon. During their regular army service they were told that these were "judgment day weapons" and would only be used in a full-scale war.

Haaretz also quoted the commander as saying that the army ordered them to flood the area with cluster bombs to compensate for their imprecision. "We have no option of striking an isolated target, and the commanders know this very well," he said.

To date, United Nations bomb disposal teams have searched for and disposed of 58,000 unexploded bomblets. There are an estimated additional million unexploded bomblets in the south of Lebanon. This does not include other explosive devices like conventional land mines, unexploded artillery shells, and other types of bombs dropped from aircraft.

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