A/HRC/21/50 V. Cluster munitions 23. The Commission took note of video evidence emanating from Hama governorate in July 2012 indicating the use of cluster munitions. The photographs and video of bomblets could not be corroborated. The use of anti-personnel mortar munitions was recorded in Zabadani, Damascus governorate, on 12 April. Corroborated accounts described the shells exploding just above ground to maximize human casualties. Although the Syrian Arab Republic is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the commission notes that such weapons are inherently indiscriminate when employed in residential areas or areas frequented by civilians. VI. Legal conclusions 24. Based on its findings the commission determined that the legal threshold for indiscriminate attack as a violation of customary IHL has been met. Government forces fired shells into areas inhabited by civilians while failing to direct them at a specific military objective. 25. Moreover, the attacks, especially shelling, caused incidental loss of civilian life and injury to civilians, as well as damage to civilian objects, which in the view of the commission were excessive when compared to the anticipated military advantage. 82

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