Human Rights Watch (HRW) has highlighted significant loopholes in international laws governing the use of incendiary weapons, allowing warring parties in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other conflict zones to exploit these weapons without adequately protecting civilians.
In a report released Thursday, HRW claims that Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) is failing to prevent the misuse of incendiary weapons due to two key gaps:
1. The protocol’s definition excludes munitions like white phosphorus, which are not primarily designed to set fires but can still cause severe harm.
2. The protocol offers weaker regulations for ground-launched incendiary weapons compared to air-dropped ones, a distinction that may be outdated.
The report tracks the use of incendiary weapons by various parties, including Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and the Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad.
Specifically, HRW documents Israel’s use of white phosphorus shells in Lebanon and Gaza since the conflict escalated in October 2023, with Israel asserting that its white phosphorus is used for creating smokescreens rather than setting fires, thus not classified as incendiary under the law.
In Ukraine, HRW has recorded at least 157 surface-fired incendiary weapon attacks between February 2022 and August 2024.
While the report does not definitively attribute these attacks to either Ukraine or Russia, both countries are known to possess rockets and drones capable of launching incendiary munitions.
HRW urges international action to strengthen the laws governing incendiary weapons, particularly following recent calls from multiple countries for reform at a CCW meeting in November 2023.
However, consensus-based decision-making at the CCW has blocked these reforms.
HRW is calling on member states to support efforts to close the legal loopholes and further stigmatize the use of incendiary weapons, which cause long-term physical and psychological harm to survivors.
