Prof. Corn on Rules of War

Texas Tech's Professor Geoffrey S. Corn writes here about the complicated Rules of War. Excerpt:

[T]here are three important aspects to a credible assertion that an attack is indiscriminate in violation of international law.

First, the assessment cannot rely solely on the adverse effects on civilians. While it is tempting to assume that civilian suffering proves illegality, the law’s focus is also on the attack decision, and not just the attack result. This means it is crucial to consider why the attack was launched, and not just the outcome. And in making this assessment, it is proper to consider the objectives of the entire attack objective, and not just individual parts of the attack.

Second, it is impossible to conclude an attack was indiscriminate without considering the value of the target attacked in respect to the military advantage to be gained. Relying on only the consequences of the attack without this consideration fails to account for the inherent weighing of quite different considerations that needs to occur at the core of this rule of war.

Finally, attack legality is assessed on a target-by-target basis. This is why it is misleading to simply cite the total number of civilian casualties, numbers that are open to criticism given they do not distinguish between uninvolved civilians and Hamas fighters.