Use of Force
Strikes against the Houthis: The Relationship between Resolution 2722 (2024) and the Right of Self-Defense
Following their strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, both the United States and the United Kingdom have based their actions on the inherent right of individual self-defense (S/2024/55 and S/2024/56). Interestingly, both States have also made direct reference to...
Attacking the Quds Force and Affiliated Groups under the Jus ad Bellum
On 28 January, a drone strike on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan known as Tower 22 killed three soldiers and wounded 34. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a non-State militia group, claimed responsibility for the attack which it said was in response to U.S. support...
The Law of Self-Defense and the U.S. and UK Strikes against the Houthis
The Houthis are an Iran-aligned armed group that controls large swathes of territory in northern Yemen. Since 19 November 2023, and to support Hamas during its ongoing armed conflict with Israel, the Houthis have launched attacks against vessels transiting through the...
Lieber Studies Big Data Volume – Big Data and Armed Conflict – Legal Issues Above and Below the Armed Conflict Threshold
Editor’s note: This is the first post in a symposium addressing themes from a new book entitled Big Data and Armed Conflict: Legal Issues Above and Below the Armed Conflict Threshold, the ninth in the Lieber Institute’s Lieber Studies series with Oxford University...
The Influence of Weaponry on the Jus ad Bellum
In an Articles of War post last week, Professor Terry Gill discussed his new book, The Use of Force and the International Legal System, co-authored with Dr. Kinga Tibori Szabó. It is a fascinating journey through the jus ad bellum, the law governing the use of force...
The Jus ad Bellum Aspects of the Russian War in Ukraine
Editors’ Note: This post is derived from a presentation given at the 2023 Israel Defense Forces Military Advocate General’s 4th International Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict. In spite of the complex legal issues that Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has...
The Use of Force and the International Legal System
The editors of Articles of War kindly invited me to submit a short post regarding the book I co-authored with Kinga Tibori Szabó on the use of force which was recently published by Cambridge University Press under the abovementioned title. I will give a brief overview...
Year Ahead – International Humanitarian Law at Risk
I leave 2023 behind, dismayed about the state of international humanitarian law (IHL) and concerned that its effectiveness on the battlefield is at risk. In this year-ahead post, I highlight five threats as particularly corrosive and urge greater sensitivity to them...
Ukraine Symposium – Retaliatory Warfare and International Humanitarian Law
On 29 December, Russia launched a massive country-wide drone and missile assault on Ukraine. Although Ukraine shot down 114 of the 158 inbound missiles, over 40 Ukrainian civilians died in the attacks, and more than 160 were wounded. In addition to military...
The Korean Space Race
At the end of 2023, we enter a new phase of competition and proxy war on the Korean Peninsula in what could be dubbed the Korean Space Race. Kim Jong-un, the mercurial North Korean leader, has long prioritized placing military spy satellites over the Korean Peninsula....
Securing the Maritime Domain in the Red Sea
Since the brutal Hamas-led massacre of over 1,300 innocent Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023, Houthi rebels based in Yemen have increased their attacks on Israeli and U.S. ships in the Red Sea. A statement issued by the Iranian-backed rebels indicated that they...
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...
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