State Responsibility
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – Israel’s Right to Self-Defence against Hamas
Recent posts (here and here) have discussed Israel’s right to use force by way of self-defence against Hamas following the October 7 attacks. The gist of the first post’s argument, notwithstanding the caveats, is that the right to self-defence provided in Article 51...
The U.S. Turkish Drone Shootdown Over Syria and the Jus Ad Bellum
In early October, the United States shot down an armed Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) operating over Syrian airspace with an F-16 fighter jet. The aerial engagement was unusual, if not unprecedented, in that it targeted an aircraft belonging to “one of...
The Emergence of Collective Countermeasures
Editor’s Note: This post is based on a forthcoming article, “War Reparations: The Case for Countermeasures” in the Stanford Law Review, available here. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it launched the largest land war in Europe since the Second World...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – Iran’s Responsibility for the Attack on Israel
One important question that arises from Hamas’s surprise offensive against Israel relates to Iran’s involvement in the attack. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran’s role was significant. Iranian security officials helped to plan the attack and “gave the green...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – The Legal Context of Operations Al-Aqsa Flood and Swords of Iron
On Saturday morning, the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a brutal surprise attack into Israel that included a barrage of over 3,000 missiles and the air, sea, and land penetration of Israeli territory. This was...
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...
Ukraine Symposium – Territorial Acquisition and Armed Conflict
Soon after the outbreak of its international armed conflict with Ukraine in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. Eight years later, it also annexed territory around the four Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. In each case, the annexations, which...
Harvesting Vulnerability: The Challenges of Organ Trafficking in Armed Conflict
This post is drawn from the author’s article-length work, “Harvesting Vulnerability: The Challenges of Organ Trafficking in Armed Conflict” appearing in the International Review of the Red Cross. Over 140,000 organ transplants are performed each year worldwide, a...
International Law and Accountability for the Nova Kakhovka Dam Disaster
The Dnieper River is one of the largest transboundary rivers in Europe, originating in Russia, flowing through Belarus and Ukraine before reaching the Black Sea. The river is Ukraine’s primary water source and covers a significant portion of the country. Ukraine has...
Putin Admits to Funding the Wagner Group: Implications for Russia’s State Responsibility
On June 27, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a remarkable announcement. After years of denying any links between the Wagner Group and the Russian State, Putin stated, “I want to point out and I want everyone to know about it: The maintenance of the entire...
Contracts Between the Wagner Group and Russia’s Defense Ministry: International Law Implications
After months of infighting between Russian defense officials and the Wagner Group, the Deputy Defense Minister, Nikolai Pankov, announced on June 10, 2023, that “volunteer formations” would be required to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense before the...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Detention in Non-International Armed Conflict
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...