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.
3,526 Articles
President Bashir Is No Michelangelo
Earlier this week, President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, announced a “political…
U.S. Operations Against al-Shabaab/al-Qaeda: The Targeting of Godane
As Sarah Knuckey’s post explains, CNN is reporting that the latest US drone strike in Somalia targeted Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of Al-Shabaab. Sarah asks whether the strike…
What rules is the US applying to its Somalia drone strikes?
CNN today provided the most detailed account yet of the latest U.S. drone strike, carried out this past weekend in Somalia. US officials (quoted anonymously by CNN) said the…
First “Public” PRB Hearing Raises More Questions Than it Answers
As expected, today’s Periodic Review Board hearing, the first so-called “public” one of these events, was completely uneventful. In the case of Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel…
Quasi-public Guantanamo Detainee Hearings Start Tomorrow
On Tuesday morning, select members of the media and human rights groups will, for the first time, be allowed to observe a portion of a Periodic Review Board hearing for a detainee…
An Inauspicious Anniversary: It’s Time to Release the Report of the Special Interagency Task Force on Interrogations and Transfer Policies
Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of President Obama’s Executive Order 13491 on ensuring lawful interrogations. The Order, one of the first acts of the Obama administration,…
Understanding What it Means to be “Approved for Transfer”: A Response to Lawrence Rosenthal
Lawrence Rosenthal argues below that the Executive lacks any AUMF authority to continue to detain GTMO detainees who have either been approved for transfer by the GTMO Review Task…
General Stanley McChrystal Discusses the Downsides of Drones
In an interview with BBC Radio 4, General Stanley McChrystal, the retired commander of forces in Afghanistan, stated his general view that the use of drones will and should increase.…
The Constitutional Case for Judicial Authority To Order the Transfer and Release of Guantánamo Detainees Cleared for Release
In the statement that he issued as he signed the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), President Obama, addressing the Act’s continuing restrictions on the transfer…
Horrific New Evidence of Syrian War Crimes Emerges
The Guardian has published a piece describing the emergence of disturbing new evidence of the commission of “industrial scale war crimes” in Syrian detention centers. …
Osama bin Laden’s Son-in-Law to Face Trial in NY Within a Year of His Arrest
Judge Lewis Kaplan in the Southern District of New York has been keeping busy. In just the last week, Judge Kaplan issued three decisions in the case of Osama bin Laden’s…
US Announces Investigation into Wedding Convoy Drone Strike: A Step Toward Accountability?
Last night, NBC’s Michael Isikoff reported that (anonymous) US officials said: “The Obama administration has launched an internal investigation into a Dec. 12 drone strike…