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Islamic Jihadism and the Laws of War

Islamic Jihadism and the Laws of War

In my position as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regional legal coordinator in the Middle East and North Africa for the last ten years, I’ve had the sad privilege to witness the ugly wars between various States and the Islamic jihadist groups that...

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Speaks to West Point Cadets

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Speaks to West Point Cadets

Editor’s note: On September 20, 2023, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, visited the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare at the United States Military Academy West Point to meet with cadets and faculty. He made the following official remarks. Thank you...

Military Aid to Russia and International Law

Military Aid to Russia and International Law

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is in Russia to discuss military support, including supplying artillery shells and rockets, for Russian operations against Ukraine. In the past, North Korea has supplied the Wagner Group with arms and ammunition. Its support to...

Stranded Seafarers Under International Humanitarian Law

Stranded Seafarers Under International Humanitarian Law

Introduction One of Ukraine’s first belligerent reactions to its invasion by the Russian Federation was closing its ports to international shipping—leaving 2000 seafarers stranded aboard 94 vessels in and around the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov under threats of...

Articles of War Editorial Board Changes

Articles of War Editorial Board Changes

Executive Editor We are pleased to congratulate Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Alcala on his appointment as Executive Editor at the West Point Press. The newly established publishing arm of the United States Military Academy, West Point Press has rapidly produced an...

Digitalize It: Digital Evidence at the ICC

Digitalize It: Digital Evidence at the ICC

The International Criminal Court (ICC, or the Court) first accepted digital evidence in a legal proceeding in 2013 during the prosecution of Al Faqi Al Mahdi for ordering the destruction of the Timbuktu shrines and mosques in Mali. Since that case, there has been...

2023 DoD Manual Revision – What’s In a Presumption?

2023 DoD Manual Revision – What’s In a Presumption?

(Editor’s note: This post is part of a series analyzing the 2023 revisions to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual.) One of the most notable—if not the most notable—changes to the Department of Defense Law of War Manual (the Manual) is inclusion of the...

The Intelligence Community, Atrocities, and Accountability

The Intelligence Community, Atrocities, and Accountability

(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...

The United States Should Ratify the Rome Statute

The United States Should Ratify the Rome Statute

(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...

How Qualified Neutrality Impacts the Law of Contraband

How Qualified Neutrality Impacts the Law of Contraband

It is often thought that the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine conflict may depend heavily on the amount and type of military equipment that both parties are able to bring to the battlefield. Depriving the enemy State of material it needs to sustain its warfighting...

Collateral Damage and Innocent Bystanders in War

Collateral Damage and Innocent Bystanders in War

This post is based on the author’s article in the Stanford Journal of International Law and is posted here with the permission of SJIL. It is generally accepted in moral philosophy that it is prohibited to knowingly kill an innocent bystander even when necessary to...

Curing the COIN Hangover

Curing the COIN Hangover

As we are adapting to the new reality of preparing for large scale combat operations (LSCO) rather than just the next counter insurgency (COIN) or counter terrorism (CT) operation, educators and trainers are raising the same concern: our forces are struggling to...

War, Law, and the Paths We Take

War, Law, and the Paths We Take

I first met Sufyan Abbas in Tikrit, Iraq in the spring of 2004, when I was a first-tour Captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps assigned to First Infantry Division. Iraq, in that moment, was unstable and smouldering. The detrital effects of war and the coalition’s “shock...

Was Russia at War with the Wagner Group?

Was Russia at War with the Wagner Group?

Tension has long existed between Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, a private military company that has borne the brunt of the deadliest fighting in Ukraine, and the Russian armed forces. In particular, Prigozhin has singled out Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu,...

Sabotage in Law: Meaning and Misunderstandings

Sabotage in Law: Meaning and Misunderstandings

On May 3, 2023, Russia accused Ukraine of attempting to “assassinate” President Vladimir Putin by launching two armed drones at the Kremlin in Moscow. Russia’s press service categorized the incident as a “planned terrorist attack,” and President Putin blamed Western...

International Law, Order, and Justice

International Law, Order, and Justice

The Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022, heralded the emergence of an increasingly realist world order. Russia’s open aggression with flagrant violations of fundamental norms and rules is a clear challenge to the liberal world order that has...

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Make War Sharp Again?

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Make War Sharp Again?

Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Francis Lieber...

New Lieber Institute Senior Fellows

New Lieber Institute Senior Fellows

We are pleased to announce the addition of three Senior Fellows to the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare. Gary Corn, Laura A. Dickinson, and Helen Durham each bring a wealth of talent and experience across a broad range of subjects. Their expertise extends to...

ICJ Ruling on Iran’s Proxy War: The United States Must Pay

ICJ Ruling on Iran’s Proxy War: The United States Must Pay

On March 30, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling on financial measures that the United States had adopted against Iranian assets. The case was brought by Iran, seeking to challenge the legality of these financial measures as a breach of the Treaty of...

LTC Alcala Awarded ASIL’s Baxter Prize

LTC Alcala Awarded ASIL’s Baxter Prize

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) has awarded the 2023 Richard R. Baxter Military Writing Prize to Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Alcala for his paper "Cultural Evolution: Protecting 'Digital Cultural Property' in Armed Conflict.” The Baxter Prize is awarded...

Dead Bodies of War in Legal-Historical Context

Dead Bodies of War in Legal-Historical Context

“We have come for the bodies of the slain, wishing to bury them in observance of the universal law ….” Euripides, The Suppliants, ca. 423 BCE[i] Since the early days of the war between Ukraine and Russia, there have been various accounts of what is being done or not...