Topics
Finland, Territorial Security, and Anti-personnel Mines
This post outlines select international weapons law obligations of Finland relating to anti-personnel mines against the backdrop of its evolving national security situation. It identifies an array of legal, operational, and technical issues that will bear on any...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Quantifying Compliance: Challenges of Measuring Compliance with International Humanitarian Law
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. You can find the introductory post here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Iran and Israel: The Light Treatment of Jus ad Bellum
In the early hours of October 26, 2024, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched a large-scale attack against Iran. According to the IDF, these were “precise and targeted strikes against military targets in a number of areas in Iran.” While details on the nature and...
Lieber Workshop 2024: International Law and the Future of Multi-Domain Operations in the Indo-Pacific
Editors’ note: The views expressed in this post are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any other workshop participants. From October 28 to 31, 2024, the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare hosted its eighth annual Lieber Workshop at its institutional...
The ICC Palestine Case in the Aftermath of the Arrest Warrants Decisions – Part Two
On November 21, 2024, the Pre-trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued four decisions dealing with various legal matters arising out of the Prosecutor’s May 20 request to issue arrest warrants in connection with the war in Gaza. In Part One of...
The Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire: A Least Worst Option
Editors’ note: The author has also addressed this subject on The Conversation. It is welcome news that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has now been approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli cabinet, despite right-wing Minister for...
Joint Operations in the Legal Environment: A Framework for Legal Competition, Expanded Maneuver, and Deterrence
This post introduces the concept of joint operations in the legal environment (OLE) and argues that the Department of Defense (DoD) should implement OLE to uphold legitimacy in strategic competition with China and Russia. OLE builds on U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s...
The Baltic Sea Cable-Cuts and Ship Interdiction: The C-Lion1 Incident
According to widely held Russian perceptions, Russia is at war with NATO. In September 2024, Vladimir Putin stated that lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range NATO missiles to attack Russia “will mean that NATO countries—the United States and European...
Vessels of War
How can vessels be used in war? Are rights and obligations vested in armed forces personnel or in the naval platforms themselves? Combatancy in land warfare is fairly straightforward. Persons sanctioned by and under the control of a State have obligations under the...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Recognising and Addressing Harm to Children Caused by Explosive Weapons
The following post by Bethany Ellis focuses on recognising and addressing harm to children caused by explosive weapons. The post was published on Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint Articles of War and AGIL Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to...
The Evolving Interpretation of the Use of Force in Cyber Operations: Insights from State Practices
Editors’ note: This post is drawn from the author’s article-length work with Professor Michael Schmitt, “Cyberspace and the Jus ad Bellum: The State of Play” appearing in International Law Studies. The post and the article are both based on course work that the author...
The ICC Palestine Case in the Aftermath of the Arrest Warrants Decisions – Part One
On November 21, 2024, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued four decisions. These deal with various legal matters arising out of the Prosecutor’s May 20 request to issue arrest warrants as part of his ongoing investigation of the...
Mind the Gap: The COIN Hangover & DoD’s New Policy to Protect Civilians on the Battlefield
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently released a bold new policy, a DoD Instruction titled “Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response,” that aims to reduce civilian harm on “battlefield next.” This “scalable” policy, issued in December 2023, codifies best practices...
Al Hassan Symposium – Complicity in Torture and the ICC
The following post by Michel Paradis focuses on the legal issues the ICC's Trial Chamber should reexamine in making its final judgment, specifically whether Al Hassan’s credible allegations of torture compel the Trial Chamber to disregard the statements he made to the...
Al Hassan Symposium – Gendered Crime as a Central Focus in the ICC’s Al-Hassan Case
The following post by Valerie Oosterveld and Nicole Dotson focuses on gendered crime as a central focus in the ICC’s Al Hassan case. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint Articles of War and AGIL Al Hassan Symposium....
Al Hassan Symposium – The War Crime of Sentencing or Execution without Due Process in the Al Hassan Case: The Interpretative Pitfalls Hidden in the Application of the Crime
The following post by Diletta Marchesi focuses on the most important interpretative pitfalls hidden in the application of the crime of sentencing or execution without due process. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint...
NATO Interoperability When Targeting Indispensable Objects
A recent Lieber Paper strikes an optimistic note concerning legal interoperability, arguing that the dissimilarities stemming from uneven treaty membership between NATO allies are less significant than they may seem. However, one contentious subject has the potential...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Towards the Full Protection of Civilians
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. You can find the introductory post here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Ukraine Symposium – Ukraine, International Law, and Humanitarian Intervention
Responses to States that commit atrocities against their own people have long eluded international law. Some have pinned hopes on the concept of “humanitarian intervention,” whereby a State uses force (or threatens to use force) within the borders of a non-consenting...
Article 9 and the Attribution of Armed Groups’ Attacks to the Territorial State
The ongoing conflicts between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah continue to raise complex questions of international law. Some of these involve issues of State responsibility, requiring an assessment of whether the conduct of the relevant armed groups can be attributed to...
A Conflict in Suspense: General Close of Military Operations in the Iran-Israel Conflict
In April 2024, hostilities between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran intensified significantly, with both sides engaging in direct military operations within each other’s borders. A bombing near the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1st triggered this sharp...
U.S. Army General Counsel: Speech to the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War
Editor’s note: The Honorable Carrie Ricci, General Counsel of the U.S. Army, offered the following remarks to the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War at the “Silent Leges inter Arma?” Conference VII on September 20, 2024, in Bruges, Belgium. As...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Buddhism’s Psycho-ethics of Non-harm and Restraint for All Sentient Beings During Armed Conflict
The following post by Andrew Bartles-Smith focuses the importance of looking to religious and non-Western thought systems to complement and reinvigorate dominant Western conceptions of humanitarian action. The post was published on Armed Groups and International Law...
United States v. Najibullah Symposium – The Ruling
Editors’ note: This post is part of a symposium on a pretrial hearing in the case United States v. Najibullah. An introductory post by Professor Sean Watts provides background on the case and the hearing. On Friday, 1 November 2024, U.S. District Judge Kathrine Polk...
Defeat: Meanings, Consequences, Law, and Doctrine
Victory. Defeat. Two seemingly straightforward words that capture the big-picture objectives and results of war. As many current and recent conflicts over the past few decades demonstrate, however, the reality is anything but straightforward. For example, as media...
Understanding the Distinction Between Property Destruction Governed by Hague Article 23(g) and the Rules Governing Attacks
This analysis follows my prior post explaining the obligations imposed by Article 23(g) of the Hague Regulations of 1907, annexed to Hague Convention IV. For the reasons stated below, the attack rules contained in Additional Protocol I (AP I) control destruction of...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – The Harm Mitigation Holarchy: Human Security, Protection of Civilians, and Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. You can find the introductory post here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Israel’s Consent, UNIFIL, and the UN Charter
When discussing UN peacekeeping, issues of international law and politics are intertwined and at times become inseparable. The issue of the political or legal nature of consent arose when the de facto Malian government requested the removal of the UN peacekeeping...
The Virginia-Georgetown Manual Concerning the Use of Force Under International Law: Rules and Commentaries on Jus Ad Bellum
As current events so clearly demonstrate, there is no subject more fundamentally important to the maintenance of global security than that of the jus ad bellum, the rules and procedures for assessing the permissibility of a State’s resort to force in its international...
Israel – Hamas 2024 Symposium – Why Yahya Sinwar Was Not Hors de Combat
On or about October 17, 2024, members of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) killed Yahya Sinwar, the political leader of Hamas and a suspected mastermind behind the October 7, 2023 attack that viciously murdered 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children. Among those...
Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict Symposium – Cyber Operations are Thriving in the Grey
Editors note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Mitt Regan and Aurel Sari’s recently published book Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies. For a general introduction to the series, see Prof Mitt Regan and...
Strait Talk: Time to Exercise Navigational Freedoms in the Taiwan Strait Beyond Mere Transit?
Last month, a Japanese naval vessel traveled through the Taiwan Strait (the Strait), a first in the history of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, along with naval vessels from Australia and New Zealand (a first for New Zealand since 2017). A few weeks prior, two...
Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict Symposium – Challenges in the Twilight of International Law
Editors note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Mitt Regan and Aurel Sari’s recently published book Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies. For a general introduction to the series, see Prof Mitt Regan and...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Security Beyond the Physical – Addressing the Nasa Indigenous People’s Spiritual Harm in Armed Conflict
The following post by Piergiuseppe Parisi focuses on Nasa indigenous people’s spiritual harm in armed conflict. He argues that acknowledging that harm can take forms that transcend the physical dimension requires updating our understanding of human security and,...
Electronic Warfare and the Law of Armed Conflict
Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of participating in the “Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium” at U.S. Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas. The conference, which was co-sponsored by Army Futures Command, the Strauss Center for International Security and...
Attacking a Pipeline: Legal Issues for Consideration
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are pipelines constructed by a Russian State-controlled company called Gazprom to transport 110 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year from the Russian Federation under the Baltic Sea to Germany. Gazprom has a 51 percent...
Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict Symposium – Rethinking Coercion in Cyberspace
Editors note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Mitt Regan and Aurel Sari’s recently published book Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies. For a general introduction to the series, see Prof Mitt Regan and...
Ukraine Symposium – Dragon Drones and the Law of Armed Conflict
In early September, social media users uploaded videos depicting a Ukrainian drone spewing a burning substance along a dense tree line, allegedly where Russian troops were hiding (see here, here, here, and here). Although the longest video spans no more than 30...
Ukraine Symposium – Ukraine’s “Indefinite” Incursion into Russia and the Jus ad Bellum
In early August, following two and a half years of attempts to repulse invading Russian forces from its eastern territories, Ukraine conducted a large-scale ground counteroffensive into Russia from its northern border. In the largest incursion of its kind since the...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Systemic Impacts of War in Protracted Conflicts
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict Symposium – The Maritime Domain
Editors note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Mitt Regan and Aurel Sari’s recently published book Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies. For a general introduction to the series, see Prof Mitt Regan and...
Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict Symposium – The Challenge for Liberal Democracies
The idea of great power competition is now a prominent lens through which to view international relations. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reminds us that such rivalry may take an intensely violent form. Large-scale conflict has not gone away. Most...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – War is not skin deep – International Humanitarian Law and mental health
The following post by Samatha Holmes focuses on war’s impacts on mental health and wellbeing. She argues that the impacts are profound and pervasive, yet International Humanitarian Law (IHL) theory and practice has long overlooked them. The post was published on Armed...
Lieber Papers Series – The United States and (Most of) the Rest: A Legal Interoperability Primer
Editors’ Note: Articles of War previously published two longer works on the subjects of States’ responses to malicious or hostile actions and besieged forces’ legal obligations as both posts and as Lieber Institute White Papers. The post below addresses the subject...
The Legal Position of UN Peacekeepers in Southern Lebanon
The United Nations has reported several incidents over recent weeks involving the organization’s peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maintains numerous positions in its area of operations, stretching from the western coast of...
“Well, it Depends”: The Explosive Pagers Attack Revisited
On 17 September, 2024, thousands of pagers distributed by Hezbollah to its operatives in Lebanon and Syria exploded. On the following day, hundreds of walkie talkies used by Hezbollah operatives also exploded. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, more than 30...
Anti-AI Countermeasures in Warfare: Terra Incognita for IHL?
In a small town under occupation by Alpha, an utterly baffling bloodbath occurred. Dozens of civilians coming home from the Friday market were gunned down by Alpha’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sentry guns which, until that day, had never once mistaken the...
State Practice in Assassination: What is Old is New Again
In July 2024, CNN reported that American and German intelligence agencies had thwarted a Russian plan to kill Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Rheinmetall, a company known as “the largest and most successful German manufacturer of the vital 155mm artillery...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Armed Groups, Compliance and International Law. There is more than meets the eye
The following post by Ezequiel Heffes focuses on armed groups, compliance, and international law. He explores the motivations for armed groups to comply with international law and seeks to unpack some of the complexity surrounding their conduct. The post was published...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – A Rights-based Approach to Addressing Harm and Need in Armed Conflict?
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
The Role of the Private Sector in Ensuring Respect for IHL
On September 12th, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published its report, International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts. It is customary for the ICRC to produce such a report in the run-up to each quadrennial...
United States v. Najibullah Symposium – Bad Apples are Still Apples
Editors’ note: This post is part of a two-post symposium on a pretrial hearing in the case United States v. Najibullah. An introductory post by Professor Sean Watts provides background on the case and the hearing. Earlier this year, I testified as a defense expert...
Attacking Iran: Retaliation or Self-Defense?
On October 1, Iran launched a major two-wave attack consisting of over 180 missiles against Israel. The primary targets were the headquarters of Mossad and three Israeli Air Force bases. However, Israel’s multi-layered air defense systems, supported by U.S. warships,...
United States v. Najibullah Symposium – Taliban Combatant Immunity in Non-International Armed Conflict
Editors' note: This post is part of a two-post symposium on a pretrial hearing in the case United States v. Najibullah. An introductory post by Professor Sean Watts provides background on the case and the hearing. The purpose of the law of war hearing in United States...
United States v. Najibullah Symposium – Introduction
Almost as soon as hostilities between the United States and the Taliban and al Qaeda groups in Afghanistan began in 2001, important law of war questions emerged. In particular, early stages of the conflict provoked debate concerning its legal character. The question...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Practical Measures to Prevent and Mitigate Conflict-induced Food Insecurity
The following post by Katherine Kramer focuses on armed conflict and food insecurity. She discusses a new toolset which has been launched, providing guidance on practical measures armed actors can take to prevent and mitigate conflict-induced food insecurity. The post...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Redressing Civilian Harm and Going Beyond IHL Compliance
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Killing Nasrallah and the Law of Armed Conflict
Last Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted air strikes against a Hezbollah command and control bunker in Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, which was located under an apartment complex. The attack, which followed IDF warnings for civilians to evacuate the area,...
War as a Non-State-Centric Concept of Contemporary International Law
Editors’ note: This post is drawn from the authors’ article-length work, “International Law’s Premature Farewell to the Concept of War” appearing in the Brazilian Journal of International Law. There is general consensus amongst practitioners and scholars that the...
Reflections on RUSI’s Tactical Lessons from IDF Operations in Gaza, 2023
In July, Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds published a paper entitled “Tactical Lessons from Israel Defense Forces Operations in Gaza, 2023” on behalf of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Founded in 1831, RUSI is the world’s oldest and the UK’s leading defense...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Strategies to Reduce Harm and Need in War Through a Decolonial and Intersectional Lens
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Combined Arms Maneuver, Mission Command, and the Challenge of LOAC Implementation
The news out of Israel is, well, discouraging. It seems increasingly likely that Israel is going to launch a major combat operation to clear Hezbollah assets from southern Lebanon. The threat to Israeli border communities—which have been victimized by constant attacks...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Why Armed Actors Should Pay More Attention to Civilian Self-Protection Efforts
The following post by Marc Linning focuses on three different dimensions of how civilian self-protection efforts can look in practice and where there are touchpoints and linkages with efforts by armed actors to protect civilians. The post was published on Armed Groups...
“Humanity” is Not Always the Highest Claim
Disputes about the application of the law of armed conflict are often fought with tools of legal analysis: competing treaty provisions; court rulings; and historical precedents. I want to highlight here a deeper dispute regarding the overall perspective. The...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Beyond Typologies of Actors: Ambiguous Boundaries in Non-International Armed Conflicts
The following post by Anastasia Shesterinina focuses on ambiguities in the boundaries between different categories of actors involved in armed conflicts and their implications for efforts to generate and apply clear typologies of actors in research on the lived...
EU Support to Ukraine through Windfall Profits: Reparative Value, International Law, and Future Pathways
Over two years into the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the fate of Russian assets frozen by Western sanctions is followed almost as closely as battlefield developments. Considering the figures at play (assets worth an estimated $300 billion),...
The July 2023 Revision of the DoD Law of War Manual and Customary International Law
Customary international law (CIL) is an important source of legally binding rules applicable in armed conflict. Where a party to a conflict has not ratified a key international humanitarian law (IHL) treaty, such as the 1977 Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva...
A Policy Approach for Addressing the “Cyber Attacks” and “Data as an Object” Debates
Among the issues examined at this week’s International Society of Military Law and the Law of War’s annual Silent Leges Inter Arma? (In Times of War, the Law Falls Silent?) Conference in Bruges, Belgium, is the protection of civilians against digital threats during...
Exploding Pagers and the Law
Reports emerged on 17 September 2024 that, from about 15:45 that day local time, a large number of pagers used by Hezbollah personnel in Lebanon exploded spontaneously and virtually simultaneously. At the time of writing, nine persons are reported to have died and...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Compliance + Restraint Towards Full(er) Protection in War
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – What’s in the frame? Understanding everyday lived experiences of armed conflict through a lens of ‘harm+need’
The following post by Rebecca Sutton and Katharine Fortin focuses on the Beyond Compliance Consortium’s novel approach to the study of harm and need in armed conflict and articulates the logic of employing a combined ‘harm + need’ framework. The post was published on...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Why and How to Go “Beyond the Law” to Address Negative Lived Experiences of Armed Conflict
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law from September 2024 onwards. The extended symposium invites reflection on the...
Complete Defeat and the End of the Non-Recognized State of Nagorno-Karabakh
September 2024 marks the first anniversary of a decisive turn in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Following Azerbaijan’s “anti-terrorist operation,” the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh were dissolved, triggering a mass exodus of the local population and a...
Lawfully Using Autonomous Weapon Technologies
Editor's note: This post is derived from the author’s recently published book Lawfully Using Autonomous Weapon Technologies, published with Springer Press. We, members of the human race in 2024, already live in a world saturated with artificial intelligence (AI). Like...
Regaining Perspective on the Law of Armed Conflict
As I noted in my “2024 Year Ahead” post, I am worried that the law of armed conflict (LOAC) faces an array of threats to its application on the battlefield and beyond. The post set out five that I find especially corrosive. To begin with, I am worried about an eroding...
Crimea and the Interrelationship Between Military Occupation and Annexation
Every State in the world is protected from the use of force against its sovereignty and territorial integrity. This protection and the corresponding right of self-defense, enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, lie at the heart of international law. Put simply,...
Military Investigations in Armed Conflict: Investigating Themselves?
Editors’ note: This post is based on the author’s recently published book, Military Investigations in Armed Conflict: Independence and Impartiality under International Law, published with Routledge. “We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong.” This...
Targeting in an Urban Environment: Why Weaponeering and Tactics Matter
Israel’s ongoing urban operations in Gaza have drawn extensive international scrutiny. Critics have focused on the number of reported civilian casualties, with many attributing Israel’s use of large, high-explosive free-fall bombs in an urban environment as the cause...
Reparations in Colombia: Redressing Civilian Harm in the Midst of Armed Conflict
Commentators often point to Colombia as a success story in terms of confronting the consequences of armed conflict through its extensive engagement with transitional justice efforts to secure peace and to prevent repetition. Yet despite the peace agreement in 2016...
International Law and Intelligence Gathering: Mind the Gaps
Intelligence gathering is a fundamental element of both statecraft and the conduct of hostilities. Its integral role in armed conflict is evident in the Israel intelligence service, the Shin Bet, having provided “surgical intelligence” for the July 2024 targeting of...
The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Twenty years after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its advisory opinion on the consequences of the Israeli Wall, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to issue another advisory opinion regarding Israel’s practices and policies in occupied Palestinian...
The Woomera Manual and Military Space Activities and Operations
The ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the critical role satellites in outer space play in the conduct of contemporary armed conflict. The conflict itself has been termed the first commercial space war given the heavy reliance by both Ukraine...
Targeting in the Black Box: The Need to Reprioritize AI Explainability
States around the world are racing to leverage the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) to their own military advantage. In the coming decades, AI-based systems are expected to revolutionize logistics, significantly alter targeting processes, and power...
Rules of Engagement as a Regulatory Framework for Military Artificial Intelligence
Proper regulatory frameworks are required for the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) for military purposes. Any such frameworks must comply with international law. In addition, because existing international law does not provide specific...
Ukraine Symposium – Is Ukraine Occupying Territory in Russia?
In the early morning hours of August 6, Ukrainian forces in armored vehicles moved into the Kursk region of Russia. This surprise offensive by Ukraine into Russia represents the largest foreign incursion into Russia since the Second World War. By August 15, the...
Protected Zones in Warfare: Practical Considerations and the Role of the Legal Advisor
International humanitarian law (IHL) contemplates that the parties to an armed conflict may create protected zones. These zones can shield certain categories of persons from the direct and indirect effects of armed conflict. There are various kinds of protected zones....
Taiwan’s New Rules of Engagement
In July 2024, Taiwan’s military released to the public its rules of engagement (ROE) prior to testing their effectiveness in the annual Han Kuang exercises, which took place on July 22-26. Taiwan developed the ROE in 2017 and revised them in 2023 as the People’s...
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Charts a Course for Countering China’s Legal Warfare
The threat of violence looms large behind China’s campaign of “legal warfare” and Congress is taking note. Section 1284 of the Senate’s draft Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directs the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to submit a report...
Israel-Hamas 2024 Symposium – Israel’s Jus ad Bellum and LOAC Obligations and the Evolving Nature of the Conflict
According to the New York Times, some senior American officials have concluded Israel has achieved all it can militarily in the Gaza Strip. It reports that “a growing number of national security officials” believe that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) will never be able...
ISIS Detentions in Syria and the Responsibility of Supporting States
While the world’s attention is focused on the hostilities in Gaza and Ukraine, the conflict against ISIS in Syria and Iraq continues. Although out of the headlines, coalition forces led by the United States continue to work with local partner forces to achieve the...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Conclusion
Although a much wider analysis is possible (and is done elsewhere) I thought it important to highlight the uniting factor that has emerged so far in the various posts in Articles of War based on three volumes of the Laws of Yesterday’s Wars series. This final post...
When Security Prevails: Lithuania Votes to Withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Lithuania has recently voted to withdraw from the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). On July 18, 2024 the State’s Parliament adopted a “denunciation law,” which means that Lithuania will cease to be a party to the CCM six months after submission of the...
The “Total Defeat” of Hamas and the End of NIAC
Since the onset of the hostilities in Gaza that began on October 7, 2023, Israel has consistently identified the “complete destruction” of the “military and governmental capabilities” of Hamas as one of its principal war aims. If Israel were to achieve that objective,...
Legal Black Hole Redux: The 9/11 Military Commission Plea Withdrawal
When a military commander makes a bad call, or a series of them, they are typically relieved of the duty pursuant to which the call was made. President Lincoln took this route with General George McClellan’s strategic dithering during the Civil War, as did President...
The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Court’s Discretion
On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its advisory opinion (AO) on the Legal Consequences Arising From the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (OPT AO). The Court responded to...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Mongol Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post....
Food Security Assessments and International Law
Food security remains an urgent and widespread global issue, with an estimated 281.6 million people in 59 countries or territories facing acute food insecurity in 2023. For nearly half of those people, conflict was the primary driver of their food insecurity. To...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – South Sudanese Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Our...
Targeting Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr
On Wednesday morning, Israel killed the Chief of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. To do so, it reportedly used a bomb that had been smuggled two months earlier into the...
Applying the Unwilling or Unable Test: Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
On July 18, 2024, Houthi rebels conducted a drone strike in Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding at least ten others. The attack was carried out by an Iranian Samad-3 drone that had been modified to conduct the long-range strike. The attack constitutes the first...
