A former Israeli defense official has said the Israeli military used cluster bombs for two weeks during the 2006 offensive on Lebanon without telling the Israeli government.

Hagai Alon, an adviser to then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz, told Israel Radio on Saturday that the government only learned of the cluster bomb use when European countries raised the issue after the war.

The military said in response that it updated the government on all issues throughout the war.

Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of bomblets over wide areas. U.N. experts say that of millions dropped over Lebanon, up to 1 million failed to explode.

An Israeli war inquiry had raised questions about the army's use of the weapons, noting a lack of "operational discipline, oversight and control."(AP)