Weapons Law
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...
Russia’s Alleged Nuclear Anti-Satellite Weapon: International Law and Political Rhetoric
The development and testing of anti-satellite weapons (ASATs), as well as debates concerning the legal and policy implications of ASAT testing and use, have existed since soon after the dawn of the Space Age. The centrality of these issues has waxed and waned over...
Distinction and the Rule of Perfidy within the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Editors' note: This post is based on course work that Luke Gigliotti completed in his final year as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy West Point. The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) plays a crucial role in contemporary armed conflicts. The challenge for military...
Flamethrowers: A Fiery Legacy and Uncertain Future?
In warfare, few weapons are as terrifying as the flamethrower. Horrific imagery captured in iconic photographs from the First and Second World Wars cemented its reputation for inflicting excruciating burns and long-term physical and psychological effects. Given the...
Caltrop: An Ancient Weapon in Modern Warfare
Recent reports indicate that Ukraine has modified drones to deliver and disperse a weapon of ancient design in its fight against Russia. The weapon, known as a caltrop, is a spiked device that can be strewn in large numbers, sometimes connected by a chain, across a...
Ukraine Symposium – Russia’s Use of Riot Control Agents in Ukraine
Russian forces are reportedly using non-lethal chemical weapons known as riot control agents (RCA) to flush combatants out of trenches in eastern Ukraine before attacking them with conventional munitions. According to a report published by Reuters on April 17, the...
National Security Memorandum 20 and the Challenge of Operational End-Use Monitoring
Today, May 8, was the deadline for the Departments of Defense (DoD) and State to answer tough questions about how U.S. supplied weapons are being used in today’s conflicts, including those in Gaza and Ukraine. It appears that the delivery of their reports to Congress...
In Honor of Yoram Dinstein – Command Responsibility in an Era of New Weapons
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Professor Yoram Dinstein, who passed away on Saturday February 10, 2024. These posts recognize Professor Dinstein’s work and the significant contribution his scholarship has made to our understanding of...
MARWAN 1: How U.S. Central Command Transferred Seized Iranian Ammunition to Ukraine
On December 1, 2022, the USS Lewis B. Puller, an expeditionary mobile base ship assigned to the U.S. 5th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, intercepted a fishing trawler, the Marwan 1 (Marwan), a flagless vessel, in the Gulf of Oman. A security team from the...
State Submissions on the Legal Review of AWS and Possible Good Practices
The review of weapons, means, and methods of warfare for compliance with international law has attracted significant attention during the international debate about the regulation and use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS). Legal reviews have been cited as one tool...
AWS Legal Review Series – Protracted Debate, Incremental Progress, Unexpected Outcomes
This post appears as part of a series on the legal review of autonomous weapon systems. An introductory post by Professors Rain Liivoja and Sean Watts provides an overview of the series. High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)...
Israel – Hamas 2024 Symposium – Reflections on the Invocation of Common Article 1
The South Africa v. Israel case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning alleged violations of the Genocide Convention during the Israel-Hamas war has broader implications than the core question at the heart of that proceeding. One consequence became...