Israel is requesting the U.S. government for short-range cluster rockets with powerful killing capability, aimed to wipe out Hezbollah missile sites, The New York Times reported Friday.

The M-26 artillery rockets are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, according to the report.

The U.S. government is expected to approve the request shortly, along with other arms supply to Israel.

But some U.S. State Department officials have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties and diplomatic repercussions.

Media report said Israel is asking for the rockets urgently because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery.

During much of the 1980s, the United States maintained a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion.

But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and since then, the United States has sold Israel some types of cluster munitions.

Last month, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said it obtained evidence that Israel had fired cluster munitions on July 19 at the Lebanese village of Bilda, killing one civilian and wounded at least 12 others, including seven children.