Explanation:

• Statement 2 is incorrect: The bombs have been used many times earlier.
• Thermobaric weapons A thermobaric bomb (also called a vacuum or aerosol bomb - or fuel air explosive) consists of a fuel container with two separate explosive charges.
• A vacuum bomb, dubbed the ‘father of all bombs’, works by using oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a hightemperature explosion, making it far deadlier than a conventional weapon.
• This can be launched as a rocket or dropped as a bomb from aircraft.
• When it hits its target, the fi rst explosive charge opens the container and widely scatters fuel mixture as a cloud.
• This cloud can penetrate any building openings or defences that are not totally sealed.
• A second charge then detonates the cloud, resulting in a huge fi reball, a massive blast wave and a vacuum which sucks up all surrounding oxygen.
• The weapon can destroy reinforced buildings, equipment and kill or injure people.
• Usage Recently, Russia has used thermobaric weapons in Ukraine.
• Thermobaric munitions can be traced back to World War Two, when they were initially used by the German army.
• They were not widely developed until the 1960s, when the US used them in Vietnam.
• The US also used them in Afghanistan fi rst, in 2001 to try to destroy al-Qaeda forces hiding in the caves of the Tora Bora mountains, and in 2017, against Islamic State forces.
• Russia used them in its war in Chechnya in 1999 and was condemned by Human Rights Watch for doing so.
• Laws There are no international laws speci fi cally banning their use, but if a country uses them to target civilian populations in builtup areas, schools or hospitals, then it could be convicted of a war crime under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.