Armed Conflict
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis on the legal, policy, and strategic dimensions of armed conflict, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, counterterrorism operations, conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, and other armed conflicts across the globe, with a focus on international humanitarian law, war crimes and accountability, mitigating and remedying civilian harm, and the humanitarian impacts of warfare.
3,583 Articles
Was the Cyber Attack on a Dam in New York an Armed Attack?
Concerns about the vulnerability of infrastructure to cyber attacks were highlighted in two recent news articles. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that in 2013, Iranian…
Let’s Start Calling Combat Combat
On Tuesday, a Special Forces soldier died and two others were injured in a skirmish with Taliban fighters near Marjah in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. Al Asad air…
Top Gender and Security Moments of 2015
Looking back on the last year, there were a number of hallmark moments at the intersection of gender and security in the international community, some more positive than others.…
The Irresponsible Institutional Politics of an “Election Year”
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
Closing GTMO: “Why wasn’t there a clearly delineated strategy?”
It’s not even the most glaring error in Dina Temple-Raston’s review of Charlie Savage’s Power Wars, but this passage sure does stand out: While the issue of closing…
Ten National Security Oversight Issues to Watch in 2016
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
What explains the three-year delay on the Slahi habeas petition?
As Ben Wittes notes over at Lawfare, last week Judge Royce Lamberth denied a motion by habeas petitioner Mohamedou Ould Slahi to require the Department of Defense to expedite…
An unspecified (and unclear) debate about the Rules of Engagement in Syria
In a lead story today, the Washington Post reports that France, the U.K., and Iraqi commanders are all “chaf[ing] at” or “complain[ing] about” the United…
Why the US Should Cooperate With Investigations Into the Hospital Bombing
On December 12, the United Nations released a “special report” on human rights abuses and international humanitarian law violations that recently occurred in Kunduz, Afghanistan.…
Serial Angst
I’m one of the many who loved the first season of Serial — the Peabody Award-winning podcast spun off from NPR’s This American Life. It wasn’t just that the case of Adnan…
War: What Is It Good For? — Revisiting Strategic Questions Congress Should Ask in Debating an ISIL AUMF
As I revisited the series of 20 questions I recommended Congress consider in September 2014 regarding US strategy to combat the threat posed by ISIL, I remembered the advice an…
House Demolitions 2.0
As violence erupted in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories over the past several months, the Israeli government has returned to one of its most controversial practices…