Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)
688 Articles
Reflections on Targeting: Looking in the Mirror
Questions about targeting the “money” of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) have been raised in this forum. Images of missile strikes on financial warehouses and money floating…
Roof Knocking and the Problem of Talking With Bombs
“Roof knocking” is a controversial method of bombing ostensibly intended to minimize civilian casualties. Israel introduced the method in its campaign in Gaza in 2008–2009,…
Recap of the Recent Posts on Just Security (May 21–27)
I. Guantánamo Jen Daskal, Guilty Pleas For GTMO Detainees (Without Ever Setting Foot on US Soil) (Monday, May 23) II. Transparency, Legality & the the Use of Force David…
Is it legal to target ISIL’s oil facilities and cash stockpiles?
An important story in yesterday’s New York Times explains how the U.S. and coalition forces have dramatically increased their targeting of ISIL’s oil facilities (including…
The MSF Airstrike Report: Better on the Facts Than on the Law
The military’s investigation of the October 2015 airstrike on the Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan was back in the news last week thanks to highly…
Transparency, Review, and Relief: The Far-Reaching Implications of the Kunduz Report
Thus far, many discussions of the US military’s release of a 120-page detailed report of the lawfulness of its attack on the Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) facility in Kunduz,…
What the Kunduz Report Gets Right (and Wrong)
Over the past week, many thoughtful posts have appeared, here and elsewhere, reacting to the US military’s report on the 2015 airstrike of a Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF)…
We Need to Know More About the US’s Role in Yemen
A crowd quickly gathered when I arrived last month in what remained of the market in Mastaba, a small highway town in northern Yemen. A week earlier, on March 15, warplanes from…
The International Discussion Continues: 2016 CCW Experts Meeting on Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Last week, States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), the international treaty banning or restricting the use of land mines, blinding lasers, and other…
Are all “members” of ISIL targetable?
Rita Siemion and Heather Brandon of Human Rights First have published a comprehensive post on some of the more important aspects of Brian Egan’s speech to ASIL. (My own…
International Law à la Carte: Brian Egan’s Jus ad Bellum Doctrine
Last week’s speech by State Department Legal Adviser Brian Egan laying out the legal and policy rationales behind the US’s war against ISIL was largely overlooked in the mainstream…
A brief response to Gabor Rona on the use of force by non-military personnel
Gabor Rona is correct, of course, that (absent a later-in-time statutory override) U.S. use of force must comply with international law, regardless of the identity of the U.S.…