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

Lessons From Mosul: How to Reduce Civilian Harm in Urban Warfare
Fighting in densely populated areas poses a number of significant challenges to forces trying to adhere to the rules that govern warfare. Even assuming that international humanitarian…

State Dept. Office of Global Criminal Justice on the Chopping Block–Time to Save It
Word out of Washington is that the Trump Administration has started to restructure the State Department and particularly the Under-Secretariat for Civilian Security, Democracy…

Letter to the Editor: There Is Much More to a Civilian Casualty Investigation than Eyewitness Accounts
I applaud and agree with Sarah Knuckey’s, Ole Solvang’s, Jonathan Horowitz’s and Radhya Almutawakel’s recent post (“Pentagon Admits Major Investigation Flaw: imeshey…

Hidden from the Public: The United Kingdom’s Drone Warfare
The use of armed drones by the United States, both within the conflict zones of Iraq and Syria, and further afield in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, continues to be characterized…

Fragmented Wars: International Law and Multi-Territorial Conflict Against Non-State Armed Groups
The legal issues surrounding military operations against non-State armed groups abroad are continuing to generate policy and legal debates. In an article just published in International…

US-UAE Partnership and Alleged Torture: Recommended Next Steps for the Administration and Congress
An important foreign military partner in our armed conflict against al-Qaida in Yemen—the United Arab Emirates—has faced a series of allegations that it is engaged in systematic…

International Cyber Law Politicized: The UN GGE’s Failure to Advance Cyber Norms
On June 23, after years of slow yet meaningful progress in developing State consensus regarding the application of international law norms to cyberspace, the UN Group of Governmental…

Pentagon Admits Major Investigation Flaw: They Rarely Talk to Air Strike Witnesses or Victims
In a transcript of a Pentagon Press Briefing, released this week by Airwars, Central Command’s Deputy Director for Operations made a striking admission about U.S. investigations…

Safe Zones – Only Ever a Temporary Fix When Nothing Else Is Available
Fleeing a conflict zone is dangerous. The route to safety, to a country where a refugee can obtain protection, can be deadly. Over 3,700 people died trying cross the Mediterranean…

A Test Case for Guantánamo’s New Convening Authority
The latest Guantánamo military commission case to make headlines—the new charges against Encep Nurjamen (a.k.a. Hambali)—is shrouded in an unusual amount of secrecy. But when…

The Potential Legal Implications for the U.S. in the AP’s Disturbing UAE Torture Scoop
[Editor’s note: for an analysis of the policy issues raised by this news, see Luke Hartig’s post “Reported Emirati Abuse of Detainees and the Perils of U.S. Partnerships.”]…

U.S. Law of War and Israeli Occupation: Why Enforcing International Norms in the Middle East Matters to the U.S.
Donald Trump used his first international trip as president to visit three of the holiest sites of the world’s three major monotheistic religions. He also used the trip to signal…