ISIS
411 Articles

Targeting Tankers Under the Law of War (Part 1)
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part post discussing how the law of war applies to airstrikes against oil tanker trucks. You can read Part Two here. On November…

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum: “ISIL Is Committing Genocide Against the Yezidis in Iraq”
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has issued an important and distressing report characterizing violence against the Yezidi people in 2014 in Iraq as amounting to genocide.…

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité … Sécurité
Within a few hours of the terrorist attacks on Paris which left 130 dead and some 350 injured, President François Hollande declared a nationwide state of emergency in accordance…

The Course of Least Resistance: Ignoring the Lessons of History in Responding to ISIS
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…

Where Will the Law of Self-Defense Go From Here?
Friday’s horrific attacks in Paris have now prompted retaliatory French airstrikes on Raqqa in Syria. Given the emotions that have been stirred up, it may seem unnecessary to…

A World at War With Daesh
They say we are at war. What does war look like? Our enemy is violent Islamic extremism. He is Daesh. He is al-Qaeda. The enemy consists of all groups and adherents of violent…

France Maps out Its War Against the Islamic State
Editor’s note: This post also appears on the European Council on Foreign Relations website. France’s President François Hollande used a powerful and resonant piece of…

11/13/15
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…

The International Criminal Court, the Islamic State, and Chemical Weapons
Ralf Trapp recently wrote here about an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Northern Iraq…

Congress: Troops to Syria Means It’s Time (Finally) to Act
News that the United States has sent its first — albeit “fewer than 50” — troops to fight ISIS in Syria highlights once again the need for a new authorization to use military…

The Investigation Into the Islamic State and Chemical Weapons
Reports of the presumed use of chemical weapons — chlorine and more recently mustard gas — by Daesh (also know as the Islamic State) in Northern Iraq and Syria have appeared…

The AUMF, ISIL, and… FOIA?
Earlier today on Twitter, USA Today‘s Brad Heath posted the key paragraphs from DOJ’s denial of his FOIA request for any OLC memos relating to the applicability of…