Terrorism Counterterrorism
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...
Cross-Border Drone Strikes Against Mexican Drug Cartels
In April 2025, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Colby Jenkins testified that U.S. forces did not have legal authority to conduct cross-border drone strikes against drug cartels in Mexico even though President Trump had designated several cartels...
Using the Proliferation Security Initiative to Disrupt Iran’s Oil Shipments
Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been hostile to the United States and its allies and partners. It is the leading State sponsor of terror in the world. Iran’s nuclear program additionally poses an existential...
Al Hassan Symposium – Superior Orders: A (Hopefully) Overlooked Afterthought
Editors’ note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. The symposium addresses the ICC’s judgment in the Al Hassan case. The introductory post is available here. In its 822-page judgment in the...
Al Hassan Symposium – (Re) Introduction
In July of 2023, Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law jointly launched a series of posts covering the forthcoming trial judgment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Prosecutor v. Al Hassan. The case addressed charges relating to acts by...
Israel’s Actions in Syria and the Outer Limits of Self-Defence
Following the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes across Syria targeting military facilities, weapons and ammunition depots, defence systems, and Syrian naval and aircraft fleets. The targets reportedly housed “chemical...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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,...
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...
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