The Syrian regime stands accused once again of using
controversial clusterbombs in its fight against rebel forces.
Cluster bombs are not only effective at devastating troops
across a patch of battlefield, they're also handy at rendering
land useless to the enemy.  They do this by scattering tiny
bombs atop the surface of the earth. Whether targeting people,
or equipment, the result can be the same.  In this case, the
patch of earth is largely a highway running through Maarat al-
Numan, and the people are residents of Taftanaz and Tamane`a
along with insurgents using the road.  The highway is a key
passage joining conflict-heavy Homs and Aleppo, with Maaret al-
Numan nearly smack-dab in the middle.  With no air support,
access to that road is critical to the rebels success, but
cluster-bombing it seems an interesting choice by the Assad
regime.  Cluster munitions work like this:  A plane or
helicopter drops a typical bomb shaped object from the air,
basically a dispenser, that's filled with up to 2,000 'bomblet