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US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack and US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson met with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at Salam's office in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 21, 2025. (Photo by COURTNEY BONNEAU/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Washington Is Backing the Wrong Lebanon Strategy

The U.S. should link Lebanese state-building and Hezbollah disarmament through a political process, not war, to secure a durable Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.
Military personnel look at a computer screen.

A Feasible Precaution Ignored: AI Targeting Algorithms and the Failure to Recognize Protected Emblems

Ensuring algorithms recognize protected emblems is an achievable first step to protect civilians and prevent future AI-enabled tragedies.
Two men stand talking with each other in the foreground as dozens of other men swarm around and on top of a building's ruins, along with heavy equipment apparently meant to be used for rescue or cleanup operations.

In the U.S. Strike on an Iranian School, What a Serious Military Investigation Should Look Like

A U.S. military operation resulting in such a civilian death toll as the Minab school strike in Iran demands a credible, thorough Pentagon investigation.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock visit the Saydnaya prison north of Damascus, accompanied by members of Syrian rescuers known as the 'White Helmets' on January 3, 2025. Baerbock and Barrot visited Syria's Saydnaya prison, an emblem of abuses under deposed leader Bashar al-Assad. Barrot’s was the first high-level visit by a major Western power since Assad was ousted in December 2024. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Transitional Justice in Syria: Domestic-Led Accountability Efforts Cannot Function in Isolation

Syria’s transition does not occur in isolation, and its justice process will depend on how well domestic efforts connect with the global accountability landscape.
A Ukrainian man wearing fatigues carries a drone through what looks like a hallway in a residential apartment.

Iranian Officials’ Legal Liability in Russia’s Drone War on Ukraine

A forthcoming report argues that liability extends to Iranian officials involved in providing industrial, financial, and logistical support for Russia's atrocities in Ukraine.
IMAGES (left to right): People search through buildings, destroyed during Israeli air raids in the southern Gaza Strip on November 7, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images); A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on October 9, 2023 (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images); The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN, holds public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case South Africa v. Israel on 11 and 12 January 2024, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court (Photo by the International Court of Justice).

Just Security’s Israel-Hamas War Archive

Just Security's collection of more than 110 articles covering the Israel-Hamas War and its diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian consequences.
Children and adults hold candles and portraits of people killed in the conflict during a "March of Return" in Aleppo, Syria, on December 22, 2025. Displaced residents organized the event to commemorate the 2016 evacuation of eastern Aleppo and to mark the recent change in government following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad administration. (Photo by Hibatullah Barakat / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Transitional Justice in Post-Assad Syria: A Transformative Framework for Accountability and Reform

In designing an effective transitional justice framework in Syria, policymakers must employ careful sequencing, transparency, and broad participation in implementation.
People wave Syrian flags as they celebrate a year since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital Damascus on December 8, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria in Transition Series

Experts asses accountability, reconciliation, institutional reform, constitutionalism, and more in transitional Syria.

Fighting an Illegal War and Fighting a War Illegally: the Link between Regime Change Operations and International Humanitarian Law Violations

The relationship between regime change and IHL is of inherent tension, incentivizing battlefields where the law is viewed as an obstacle rather than an essential constraint.
Wide view of highway road, a tall plume of dark grey smokes rises from the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, under a hazy, grey sky.

Iranian Attacks on the Amazon Data Centers: A Legal Analysis

Do data centers qualify as lawful military objectives? If so, under what circumstances are they subject to attack? And what precautions must be taken before targeting them?
Elinor Hammarskjöld (on screen), UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, addresses the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, held from Jan. 19-30, 2026. (via UN Photo)

The Crimes Against Humanity Treaty Advances with First Preparatory Committee

PrepCom’s success will depend on leadership, diverse perspectives, and a shared commitment to justice in a divisive multilateral environment.

Report Offers New Evidence of Starvation Crimes in Darfur

The evidence in the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report demonstrates that the world is watching and gathering information to eventually bring those responsible to account.
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