Armed Conflict
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,634 Articles

The Problem With Western Suggestions of a “Shoot-to-Kill” Policy Against Foreign Fighters
An Iraqi policeman fires a machine gun at ISIS fighters in Mosul, Iraq. Image: Carl Court/Getty As ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliphate disintegrates in Iraq and Syria, Western governments…

How to Fix the US Military’s Broken Targeting System
The recent groundbreaking investigation by the New York Times into civilian casualties in Iraq uncovered a shocking truth for the many Americans who believe the United States is…

“Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force,” by Defense Dep’t Principal Deputy General Counsel William Castle (Full Text)
On Monday evening, William S. Castle, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, gave a speech entitled, “Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force?,” at the New York City Bar Association.…

Is the ICC Making a Difference?
Global criminal justice is hardly an abstract concept. Just ask Radko Mladic, who was just found guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International…

Trump’s Opportunity to Keep Up with Obama on Use of Force Transparency
One year ago, today, the Obama administration released a 66-page report detailing the legal and policy framework governing the use of military force and related national security…

The ICC’s Afghanistan Investigation: What’s at Stake for the U.S.?
The United States faces a tough predicament: How best to navigate the recent decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor to seek to commence an investigation…

Corporate Criminal Accountability for International Crimes
Above: Flickr/The International Criminal Court Ed. note. This post is the latest in our series on the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case Jesner. v. Arab Bank, a case with implications…

International Law is Meant to Prevent What’s Happening in Yemen–On Humanitarian Relief Operations and Starvation
Every day brings worse news from Yemen. This morning, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that water and sewage systems in three cities in Yemen – Hodeidah,…

Congress Steps Up Accountability for Drones Strikes and Other Military Operations
On the same day that The New York Times Magazine published a disturbing account of the monumental gap between the number of acknowledged civilian casualties and the number of casualties…

Episode 46 of the National Security Law Podcast: The $15 Million Dollar Man
In this week’s episode, your devoted hosts dig into a bonanza of national security law odds-and-ends. First up is an en banc decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…

The Internationalists Mini-Forum: Wars of Self-Defense, An Exception that Swallows the Rule
(This piece is the latest of several on Just Security examining The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World, written by Just Security editorial board…

Yemen Strike Raises Questions About Whether the US Follows Its Own Drone Rules
While we were visiting Yemen this month, the United States conducted a drone strike against alleged al-Qaeda members in Mareb Governorate, reportedly killing two suspects while…