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CAMP SHORAB, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 11: A U.S. Army helicopter flies outside of Camp Shorab on a flight to Camp Post on September 11, 2017 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. About 300 marines are currently deployed in Helmand Province in a train, advise, and assist role supporting local Afghan security forces. Currently the United States has about 11,000 troops in the deployed in Afghanistan, with a reported 4,000 more expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Last month, President Donald Trump announced his plan for Afghanistan which called for an increase in troop numbers and a new conditions-based approach to the war, getting rid of a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces in the country. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)

Opaque Transparency on the Use of Force: Observations on the 2022 “1264” Report

The 2022 report illustrates the limits of congressionally mandated reporting requirements on matters of war and peace and the need for Congress to be more proactive in informing…
A line of US soldiers walk in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya in Syria.

Tit-for-Tat Hostilities In Syria: War Powers and International Law Implications

The Biden administration's latest war powers report to Congress and letter to the UN Security Council raise questions about the domestic and international legal basis for hostilities…
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 01: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks from the Blue Room balcony of the White House on August 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. Biden announced that over the weekend, U.S. forces launched an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri, 71, took over leadership of al-Qaeda in 2011, shortly after American forces killed Osama bin Laden. The president said there were no civilian casualties. (Photo by Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images)

What Was the International Legal Basis for the Strike on al-Zawahiri?

Serious questions need to be addressed in order to establish that both the killing of Zawahiri, and the use of force against Afghanistan, were not violations of international law.

Top Experts Raise Questions Regarding Legal Basis of Zawahiri Strike

A note from co-editors-in-chief Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman: Although Just Security is on hiatus this week, we wanted to be sure to examine and reflect on the U.S. airstrike…
A screen shot from the UN Security Council’s Arria-Formula meeting on February 24, 2021 held via Zoom.

Self-Defense Against Non-State Actors: All Over the Map

Insights from UN Security Council Arria-Formula Meeting
A satellite image of the site of the Feb 2021 US airstrike in Syria.

Legal Questions (and Some Answers) Concerning the U.S. Military Strike in Syria

Unpacking the right of self-defense under international law when it comes to use of force in response to a series of attacks.
Popular Mobilization Forces members stand by a burning truck after a drone attack near Qaim border crossing, in Anbar province, Iraq Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019.

Questions on Legality of Israeli Strikes in Iraq and Lebanon

A flurry of news reports during the final week of August detailed recent Israeli air strikes against Iranian affiliated groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. The Washington Post…
Security Council meeting on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

An Insider’s View of the Life-Cycle of Self-Defense Reports by U.N. Member States

Important essay by Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga, Legal Adviser of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations, written in his personal capacity. Diverging State views…
Cars wait 02 October 2004 at a checkpoint at the Syrian-Iraqi border point of Al-Tanf, 270kms northeast of Damascus.

What’s the Mission in Syria? The Answer May be Illegal and Without U.S. Allies’ Support

Statements about a US "peacekeeping" force and a mission to counter-Iran raise serious legal questions and threaten to unravel U.S. allies' support for future U.S. operations inside…

Self-Defense Against Self-Defense, In Syria And Beyond

For many years, the United States and some of its allies have taken the view that one state (say, one of them) may use armed force on the territory of another state (say, Pakistan…

Brazil’s Robust Defense of the Legal Prohibition on the Use of Force and Self Defense

As the strikes by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France on Syria last week demonstrate, a select group of countries led by the US are asserting an increasingly broad…

About that “Deconfliction Zone” in Syria: Is the United States on Firm Domestic and International Legal Footing?

The U.S. military has at least three times in recent weeks engaged in hostilities against pro-Syrian regime forces near the At Tanf garrison in southern Syria and shot down a pro-regime…
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