Topics
Tripwires to Trojans: Updating the Law of Booby-traps for the Digital Age
Articles of War has featured discussion of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) rules concerning booby-traps (see, e.g., here, here, here, and here). All have been based in the land domain. I am interested in the application of the idea in the cyber domain. Under the...
The ICJ Obligations of Israel Advisory Opinion – Qualifying Israel as an Occupying Power in the Gaza Strip
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series featuring analysis of the 2025 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on obligations of Israel in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The introductory post to the series by Sean Watts is...
Reservations in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Validity
Twenty-three States have appended some declarations when ratifying or acceding to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (GCs). Not all these declarations embody reservations. According to the law of treaties, the term “reservation” designates “a unilateral statement, however...
Belligerent Reprisals Series – Concluding Thoughts
The posts by Stuart Casey-Maslen and Veronika Bílková (in addition to previous ones written on the topic by Michael Schmitt and Lindsay Moir) have shed light on several aspects associated with belligerent reprisals, stressing the many difficult questions that continue...
Belligerent Reprisals Series – Enforcement, Reciprocity, and the Elusive NIAC Dimension
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series related to Francesco Romani’s book “Belligerent Reprisals from Enforcement to Reciprocity” published by Cambridge University Press. Few institutions in international humanitarian law (IHL) arouse as much unease as...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Parsing Proportionality
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. These posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. It is a...
Belligerent Reprisals Series – Reprisals with Weapons
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series related to Francesco Romani’s book “Belligerent Reprisals from Enforcement to Reciprocity” published by Cambridge University Press. Francesco’s impressive work on belligerent reprisals and this series are welcome reminders...
Belligerent Reprisals Series – Changing the Paradigm to Rein in Retaliation in Armed Conflict
Editors’ note: This post introduces a series related to Francesco Romani’s book Belligerent Reprisals from Enforcement to Reciprocity published by Cambridge University Press. In its centuries-old development, modern international humanitarian law (IHL) has...
The ICJ Obligations of Israel Advisory Opinion – How Indispensable Is the UN After All?
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series featuring analysis of the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on Obligations of Israel as an Occupying Power. The introductory post to the series by Sean Watts is available here. In late October 2025, the...
Military Objective or Civilian Object? The Italian National Cybersecurity Agency’s Status in Case of Armed Conflict
The increasing reliance of States on cyber infrastructure for both civilian and military purposes has generated renewed debate on the protection of such infrastructure under international humanitarian law (IHL). The Italian National Cybersecurity Agency (Agenzia per...
Why Reciprocity Refuses to Die: The Enduring Logic of Fairness in War
International humanitarian law (IHL) is often described as a triumph of principle over pragmatism; a set of rules meant to restrain war even when all else is breaking down. After all, the Geneva Conventions (1949) promise protection “in all circumstances” not just...
Future of Warfare and Law Series – Legal Reviews of Autonomous Weapons at the Tactical Edge
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series featuring topics discussed during the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium. Christina Colclough’s introductory post is available here. The Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium (hereinafter, the...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – The Persistent Challenge of IHRL Bodies’ Review of Battlefield Situations
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. These posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. In 2022,...
Future of Warfare and Law Series – The Law and LAWS
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series featuring topics discussed during the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium. Christina Colclough’s introductory post is available here. In May of 2025, the third Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium...
Future of Warfare and Law Series – Addressing Uncertainty in the Use of Autonomous Weapons Systems
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series featuring topics discussed during the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium. LTC Christina Colclough’s introductory post is available here. The Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium, which took place in May...
Future of Warfare and Law Series – Introduction
Editors’ note: This post introduces a series featuring topics discussed during the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium. This past May, a community of military legal scholars and technical experts met at the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law...
Beyond the State: Reforming Africa’s Anti-Torture Framework to Address Non-State Violence
African countries have made significant strides in ratifying international anti-torture instruments like the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). UNCAT Article 1 defines torture as severe pain or suffering intentionally inflicted “by or at the instigation of or with...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Artificial Intelligence in Military Detention
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Professor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. The posts touch on a few issues—in this case detention—that Professor Hampson worked on and aim to pay tribute to the significant contribution her...
The Internal Proportionality Assessment in Cyberspace
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s Prosecutor v. Prlić et al. Appeals Chamber judgment, as well as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission’s Western Front arbitral award found that a bridge and an electrical power station, respectively,...
The ICJ Obligations of Israel Advisory Opinion: A Quasi-Occupying Power?
On 22 October 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) published an advisory opinion under the descriptive yet unwieldy title, Obligations of Israel in Relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Teaching and Operationalising LOAC
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. These posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. “In order for...
Military Use of Biometrics Series – The Body Does Not Lie, or Does It? Towards a Disability-Inclusive Approach to Military Biometrics
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the law applicable to the military use of biometrics. It is drawn from the author’s article-length work, “The Military Fantasy of Biometrics: Neglecting the Risks of the Normalizing of Bodies During Armed...
Military Use of Biometrics Series – Israel’s Use of AI-DSS and Facial Recognition Technology: The Erosion of Civilian Protection in Gaza
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the law applicable to the military use of biometrics. It is drawn from the author’s article-length work, “The Use of the ‘Lavender’ in Gaza and the Law of Targeting: AI-Decision Support Systems and Facial...
Military Use of Biometrics Series – Necrometrics and Contextualising Human Remains in Armed Conflict
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the law applicable to the military use of biometrics. It is drawn from the author’s article-length work, “Biometrics to Necrometrics: What the Dead Can Tell Us About War” appearing in the Journal of...
Military Use of Biometrics Series – Introduction
On 7-8 May 2024, a conference brought together a group of scholars and practitioners to discuss the law applicable to the use of biometrics by armed forces. The conference, which took place in Tallinn, Estonia, was organized by the War Studies Research Centre (WSRC)...
A Decisive Moment Concerning Individual Rights and the Law of War?
The question of whether individuals can hold rights under international law has hovered at the edges of international jurisprudence for a century. From the Permanent Court of International Justice’s 1928 Opinion on Jurisdiction of the Courts of Danzig, through the...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Calibrating the Balance Between Military Necessity and Humanity in LOAC Practice
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. These posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. Reflecting on 30...
Detention Operations on the Korean Peninsula: Historical Insights and Legal Risks
The United States Military Academy (USMA) offers internships and immersion programs every summer as part of the Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) initiative to expand cadets’ knowledge through experiential learning. Within this program, the West Point...
Mission Command Responsibility
When Justice Paul Brereton’s report on alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan was released, it sent shockwaves in Australia and internationally. It confronted and confirmed uncomfortable truths: that within Australia’s most elite military units, a small number...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Fact-Finding in Law of Armed Conflict Investigations
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. These posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. In preparing to...
Tentative Remarks on Ukraine’s Suspension of the Ottawa Convention
On June 29, 2025, the President of Ukraine signed a decree on the withdrawal of Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, otherwise known as the Ottawa Convention....
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – A Remembrance
Editors’ note: This post introduces a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. The posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law. Professor...
In Honor of Françoise Hampson – Series Introduction
In early 2022, Françoise contacted me, offering to write a two-part post for Articles of War. I was, of course, thrilled at the prospect of adding her to our roll of contributors and sharing her insights with our readers. She had long before cemented her place as an...
The Rousseau-Portalis Doctrine: French Legal Thought and the Law of War – Part II
Editors’ note: This is the second in a two-part post illustrating the impact of French legal thought on the formation of the law of war with a specific focus on the Rousseau-Portalis Doctrine. The first entry provided a brief background on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and...
The Rousseau-Portalis Doctrine: French Legal Thought and the Law of War – Part I
Editors’ note: This is the first in a two-part post illustrating the impact of French legal thought on the formation of the law of war with a specific focus on the Rousseau-Portalis Doctrine. The first post provides a brief background on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and...
Typology of Reservations Contrary to the Object and Purpose of a Treaty and their Application to IHL
If a treaty is silent on the right of a contracting party to make reservations, then according to Article 19 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), the principal consideration is the compatibility of the reservation in question with the object and...
Revisiting Customary IHL Series – Getting it right? Challenges and Shortcomings in the Identification of Customary IHL
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the ICRC’s Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, featured across Articles of War and Völkerrechtsblog. The introductory post is available here. The series highlights presentations delivered at the...
Revisiting Customary IHL Series – Non finito: Should the Study also Identify Norms that Are not Custom?
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the ICRC's Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, featured across Articles of War and Völkerrechtsblog. The introductory post is available here. The series highlights presentations delivered at the...
Revisiting Customary IHL Series – Study 2.0 Featuring the Martens Clause: Tool Rather Than Subject
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the ICRC's Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, featured across Articles of War and Völkerrechtsblog. The introductory post is available here. The series highlights presentations delivered at the...
Revisiting Customary IHL Series – A Question of Methodology: Should International Criminal Law Shape IHL?
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series relating to the ICRC's Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, featured across Articles of War and Völkerrechtsblog. The introductory post is available here. The series highlights presentations delivered at the...
Revisiting Customary IHL Series – The ICRC’s Study at 20
Editors’ note: This post introduces a series relating to the ICRC's Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, featured across Articles of War and Völkerrechtsblog. The series highlights presentations delivered at the young researchers' workshop, Customary IHL:...
When Belligerent Drones Knock on Neutral Waters: Archipelagic Sea Lanes in the Age of Kamikaze Systems
In 2024 to 2025, escalating tensions between Israel and Iran saw waves of missiles and drones cross regional skies. Jordan, a neutral (non-belligerent) State, intercepted many of these projectiles as they entered its airspace. From an international law perspective,...
Is There a Victim State Exemption from Immunity Ratione Personae Accruing to Heads of Aggressor States?
When considering the application of immunity ratione personae to heads of aggressor States, we invariably assume that it applies erga omnes, that is, vis-à-vis the criminal jurisdiction of all foreign States. How sound is that assumption? Ample State practice and...
The Ban on Force or the System: What’s Really Dying?
In the past year, a growing chorus of voices has warned that the international “rule-based” order—along with the prohibition on the use of force—is unraveling, with the United States poised to withdraw from the very system it once built. This post does not seek to...
Exceptions to the Separation Between the Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello
According to canonic learning and overwhelming practice, the rules of the jus ad bellum and those of the jus in bello are separated in the sense that the application of each depends on its own legal triggers and regulations. This principle of separation works both...
The Baltic Defense Line: Military Necessity and Civilian Protection on NATO’s Eastern Flank
Europe’s easternmost flank is undergoing one of the most strategically calibrated defensive preparations since the Cold War. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are coordinating the construction of the Baltic Defense Line, a sophisticated network of trenches, bunkers,...
Operation Spider Web and Instrumentalizing Civilian Objects
On 1 June 2025, in one of the boldest operations of the war, Ukraine carried out a massive surprise attack against Russian military installations. The attack, known as Operation Spider Web, was carried out by drones and resulted in significant damage to strategically...
Gravitational Points of the 19th Century Law of War
When considering today’s armed conflicts, it may be interesting to devote a glimpse to the systematic pillars on which the 19th century law of war was constructed. On what main strands was that law erected and layered? How did it differ from the international...
Is Lawfare for Lawyers?
A growing body of scholarship is engaged with the threat of hostile “lawfare” or “legal warfare.” This scholarship is driven by lawyers, legal professionals, and individuals affiliated with military and government legal advisory communities. Almost all this...
Unleashing Drone Dominance: Rethinking Department of Defense Weapons Reviews
In November 2001, the United States conducted what is considered to be the first ever armed drone attack in Afghanistan. Over the next twenty years, the United States dominated the production of large unmanned systems that cost millions of dollars each to produce. In...
CyCon 2025 Series – Legal Reviews of Military Artificial Intelligence Capabilities
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series that features presentations at this year’s 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia. Its subject will be explored further as part of a chapter in the forthcoming book International Law and...
CyCon 2025 Series – AI-Enabled Offensive Cyber Operations: Legal Challenges in the Shadows of Automation
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series that features presentations at this year’s 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia. Its subject will be explored further as part of a chapter in the forthcoming book International Law and...
CyCon 2025 Series – Deciding with AI Systems: Rethinking Dynamics in Military Decision-Making
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series that features presentations at this year's 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia. Its subject will be explored further as part of a chapter in the forthcoming book International Law and...
CyCon 2025 Series – Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict: The Current State of International Law
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series that features presentations at this year's 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia. Its subject will be explored further as part of a chapter in the forthcoming book International Law and...
Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict CyCon 2025 Series – Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly emerging as the defining disruptive technology of our time. While academics lament the supposed imminent demise of college writing, people turn to ChatGPT instead of their therapists, and agentic AI dangles the promise of an...
Is Nuclear Weapons Law Stopping the Nukes?
Editors’ Note: This post draws upon the book, The Law on Nuclear Weapons: An International Commentary edited by the authors and published in 2025 by Edward Elgar. It is always difficult to know for sure why political leaders and senior members of the armed forces...
Indirect or Reverberating Excessive Collateral Damage in Modern IHL
Article 51(5)(b), of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 codifies the rule or principle of proportionality in offensive or defensive attacks in the following terms, Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as...
Indiscriminate Attacks, Proportionality and the Meaning of “Incidental” Civilian Harm
Editors’ note: This post is based on the author’s article, “Indiscriminate Attacks and the Proportionality Rule: What is Incidental Civilian Harm?” in the Journal of Conflict and Security Law. What does it mean for civilian harm to be “incidental” within the meaning...
Kinocide as a Strategy of Terrorism: Legal Frameworks and Case Law Analysis
The intentional targeting of families by terrorist organizations constitutes a particularly egregious form of violence that weaponizes the emotional and social core of civilian life. Recently termed as “kinocide,” this strategy involves the systematic destruction of...
Firewalls and Fault Lines: Cyber War in the Middle East
Following the Iran-Israel War, a conflict blending relentless Israel Defense Force (IDF) airstrikes with Iranian missile and drone barrages, some Middle Eastern battlefields have quieted, making it easy to forget that a less visible but equally perilous cyber war...
Five Years of Articles of War
Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the launch of Articles of War. When we began, we promised our readers “timely, clear, and thought-provoking perspectives on the law of armed conflict and related subjects.” We hope we have delivered on that promise. We will...
Non-State Cyber Actors in the 12-Day War – The Gray Zone of LOAC, Part II
Editors’ note: In a prior post Professor Gary Corn described recent cyber operations undertaken during conflict between Iran and Israel. He related details of the hacking group, Predatory Sparrow, and mapped possible legal analysis of its status under the law of armed...
From Outrage to Engagement: Might Promoting Compliance Succeed Where Condemnation Has Failed?
The mood at this year’s European Humanitarian Forum (EHF) oscillated between frustration, foreboding, and a pervasive sense of hyper-normalization. The Secretary-General of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Jagan Chapagain, was quoted as saying “I am...
Prosecuting the Starvation War Crime in Germany: The Yarmouk Case
On 6 June 2024, the Investigative Judge at the Federal Court of Justice issued arrest warrants for five individuals apprehended in Germany. The suspects, taken into custody a month later, allegedly committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with...
Requiem for IHL: A Geopolitical Perspective
International humanitarian law (IHL) is facing a fundamental crisis. As Dr. Erica Harper recently noted, many actors around the world now openly violate the laws of war and face no consequences, accelerating the alarming erosion of global norms. While some have...
The 1892 Conferences on the Law of War published by Antoine Pillet
From 1891 to 1892, Antoine Pillet, a prolific and eminent French professor of international law, was invited to teach a course on the law of war to the garrison officers at Grenoble, France. His lectures were published in book form in 1892, in a work entitled Le Droit...
Did China Just Violate the Biological Warfare Convention?
In early June, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested two nationals of the People’s Republic of China for conspiracy to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States, which scientific literature classifies as an agroterrorism...
Non-State Cyber Actors in the 12-Day War – The Gray Zone of LOAC, Part I
Editors’ note: In this two-part series, Professor Gary Corn examines law of armed conflict issues arising from cyber operations conducted during the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. With little fanfare, the traditional line between public and private war was...
Australia’s Afghanistan Inquiry Compensation Scheme: A Pragmatic Model for Individual Reparations
Editors’ note: This post draws from the author's forthcoming examination of the Afghanistan Inquiry Compensation Scheme's legal framework and international law implications, to be published in the Australian Yearbook of International Law later this year. Professor Ben...
Military Chaplains and Other Religious Personnel under IHL
Editors’ note: This post is drawn from the author’s article-length work, “Military Chaplains and Equivalent Religious Personnel Under International Humanitarian Law” appearing in the International Review of the Red Cross. Military chaplains and similar religious...
Protecting Inhabitants of Occupied Territory: Settler Violence in the West Bank
On July 11, 2025, Israeli settlers allegedly beat Sayfollah Kamel Musallet, a Palestinian-American U.S. citizen and Florida native, to death during a confrontation near Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, a village in the West Bank where most residents hold U.S. citizenship. A...
The Madleen Incident and the Gaza Naval Blockade
On June 9, 2025, Israeli naval forces intercepted the Madleen, a UK-flagged sailboat operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, attempting to breach Israel’s longstanding naval blockade of Gaza. Among those aboard were notable activists, including climate activist...
Ukraine Symposium – War Termination: Legal Implications for International Security
The Kremlin announced on June 20 that it would finalize a date for a third round of peace talks with Ukraine. This follows two meetings in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2, 2025, marking the first such negotiations in over three years. But Ukraine and Russia remain...
Intelligence Wars, Their Warriors, and Legal Ambiguity – Part II: Ambiguity
Editors' note: This post is the second in a two-part series that explores the role both military and civilian intelligence organizations perform in armed conflict. The first post in this series examined intelligence-based activities related to large scale combat...
Intelligence Wars, Their Warriors, and Legal Ambiguity – Part I: Wars and Warriors
Editors’ note: This post is part of a two-part series that explores the role military and civilian intelligence organizations perform in contemporary hostilities. On June 13, 2025, the world was still adjusting to the news of Operation Spider’s Web, the audacious June...
What Is Left After Leaving Ottawa?
With 165 member States (at the time of writing), the Ottawa Convention is arguably the most widely recognized international treaty on conventional weapons. It was long regarded as a triumph of civil society, with progress reported on an annual basis. Even the fact...
Cross-Linkages between Non-Adverse Derogation and Non-Renunciation of Rights in Modern IHL
Articles 6/6/6/7 of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (GCs) allow belligerent States to conclude special agreements either to implement their duties under international humanitarian law (IHL) or to accept additional obligations not otherwise applicable to them....
An Operational Perspective of Military Advantage and Proportionality
Scholars have described the law of targeting as lying at the heart of the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Within the law of targeting, the rule of proportionality requires military planners, commanders, and those executing attacks to assess whether the expected harm to...
Comparative Law, the Law of War, and Usufruct
The nature of the legal pluriverse (“the plurality of existing normative orders”) remains a subject of debate. Monists view international law and domestic law as forming a single legal order. Dualists, on the other hand, take the view that international law and...
Ukraine Symposium – Ukraine and the Future of the Ottawa Convention
In 1935, the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted its 45th convention, generally prohibiting the employment of women in underground mining work. The treaty achieved widespread adoption, with 98 member States at its peak. ILO Convention No. 45 emerged from a...
Operation Rising Lion and the Self-Defense Condition of Immediacy
On 13 June, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, striking Iranian military leadership and critical infrastructure as well as key personnel involved in Iran’s nuclear weapons development program. Just over a week later, on 21 June, the United States conducted...
The Myth of Jus ad Bellum–Jus in Bello Purity
In modern international law, the separation of jus ad bellum (the law governing the right to go to war) and jus in bello (the law governing conduct in war) is frequently treated as dogma. For some, this separation is unequivocal, with some going so far as to say jus...
Shadows in Orbit: Unpacking the Cosmos 2588 Amidst Legal Uncertainty in Space
On 23 May, 2025, Russia launched Cosmos 2588, the latest in its Cosmos series of military satellites, into low Earth orbit (LEO). As first reported by independent satellite tracker Bart Hendrickx on the NASA SpaceFlight Forum, its orbital plane lies very close to that...
Data Poisoning as a Covert Weapon: Securing U.S. Military Superiority in AI-Driven Warfare
Rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into military platforms has revolutionized modern warfare, providing unprecedented capabilities for decision-making, reconnaissance, and targeting. However, reliance on AI systems introduces critical vulnerabilities,...
Interpreting the Law of Self-Defense
The 13 June 2025 Israeli attack (Operation Rising Lion) on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, as well as senior military leaders and nuclear scientists, sparked a sophisticated debate over the parameters of the international law right of self-defense (see,...
On Robert Kolb’s Advanced Introduction to International Humanitarian Law, Second Edition
This post provides select reflections based upon the experience of writing the second edition of my book, Advanced Introduction to International Humanitarian Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2025). I wrote the book as an “advanced” introduction, in the sense that it does...
Israel (and the United States) vs. Iran: Self-Defence and Forcible Counterproliferation
A number of experts have set out their position on whether Israel has a credible claim to self-defence as a legal basis for its recent and ongoing series of strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. I would like to add a few comments to this discussion and offer my...
Ready Soldier One: Video Game Incentives and Law of Armed Conflict Compliance
A gamer sits in his room, headset on, staring unblinkingly at a screen. He is closing on his final target in a Call of Duty battle royale match. With a well-placed shot, he takes down the final enemy, sealing the win. In addition to completing the mission and earning...
Statehood and the Law of Armed Conflict
This post highlights an important aspect of my latest monograph, The Essence and Reality of States – Effectiveness, Recognition and Legitimacy. The monograph is mainly about the genealogy of notions that have long informed discourse on international law, as well as...
Protection of Cultural Property in Prolonged Military Occupation
This year marks the eleventh anniversary of Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea, a region internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Against this backdrop and Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian forces...
Estonia’s New Push to Seize Immobilised Russian State Assets
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has caused extensive material damage. The World Bank Group, the government of Ukraine, the European Union, and the United Nations released a latest “Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment,” which estimates that, as of 31 December 2024,...
The Prosecution of Terrorism as a War Crime
Despite the persistent condemnation of terrorism by States and international organizations, and the frequent prosecution of terrorism as an offence under domestic law, the prosecution of terrorism as a war crime is a relatively rare occurrence. There is no consensus...
Assessing the Legality of Israel’s Action Against Iran Under International Law
As related in previous Articles of War coverage (here, here, and here), in the early hours of 13 June, Israel launched “Operation Rising Lion” which struck Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz, ballistic facilities, military commanders, and nuclear...
Select IHL Issues Arising from the Israel-Iran Conflict
The Israeli strikes on Iran on 13 June 2025 and the ensuing attacks from both sides have raised important questions of international law. Several questions concern the legal basis under the ius ad bellum for the initial Israeli attack. This issue has been addressed by...
Attacking Scientists and the Law of Armed Conflict
On June 13, 2025, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, an attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile program, and senior military leadership. Additionally, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted so-called “targeted killings” of scientists working...
War Reloaded: The Erosion of Norms and the Urgency of Prevention
After decades of cautious optimism about the global decline of warfare, recent trends paint a far more troubling picture. Civilians are increasingly caught in the crossfire, non-State armed groups and private military contractors proliferate, and new technologies are...
Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and the Right of Self-Defense
On Friday morning, June 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched Operation Rising Lion, a major strike against Iranian nuclear infrastructure and ballistic missile capability. The IDF also degraded Iran’s air defenses and targeted senior Iranian military leaders....
Asia’s Melian Moment
Prior to the siege of Melos, the Melians argued that they had the right to remain neutral when the Athenians demanded their surrender. The famous dialogue depicted by Thucydides in the History of the Peloponnesian War illustrates political realism in international...
A Map to the Second Edition of the Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare
The U.S. Naval War College has recently published its second edition of the Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare as volume 105 of International Law Studies (ILS), sometimes referred to as the “Blue Book.” Although there are no major or thematic changes to the...
Military AI as Sociotechnical Systems
Concern about incorporation of AI into the use of weapons over the last several years has focused overwhelmingly on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). While there is no consensus on the meaning of this term, many States, as well as members of a Group of...
