@lukemoffett
Prof of Human Rights and #IHL researching on redress, civilian harm, OSINT and AI, working on rewilding the north coast. Author of Algorithms of War (2026), Reparations and War (OUP 2023), and Justice for Victims at the ICC (2014).
A more extended overview here on air pollution born from the bombed oil depots in #Iran by Israel and health and environmental risks from acid rain that followed. theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
Sinking the Iran’s Frigate IRIS Dena and the Law of Naval Warfare
By Michael Schmitt (@mikeschmitt.bsky.social) and Elizabeth Hutton
Top experts explain the law of naval warfare concerning the location of the Iranian vessel, the attack itself, and U.S. submarine's lack of attempted rescue.
Israel’s widespread use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon highlights, once again, the need for stronger international law on incendiary weapons.
New from @hrw.org/ @ramzikaiss.bsky.social ⤵️
More murder on the High Sea by Trump administration, designating people as terrorists doesn't legitimise killing them, it's an extrajudicial execution which is illegal under international law (and it's not a war)
Hegseth promised “death and destruction from the sky all day long”.
Because of the US bombing of oil storage facilities, Tehran residents are now at risk from toxic acid rain falling from the sky.
Appalling human and environmental cost to this war.
This is blatant perfidy and a war crime under Art.8(2)(b)(vii) of the Rome Statute of the #ICC and Art.37 of AP I to the Geneva Conventions which prohibits misuse of Red Crescent emblem and enemy uniforms that results in death or serious injury #Lebanon #IDF
Take note, @anitaoakvilleeast.bsky.social:
Irish President Catherine Connolly says events in the Middle East are “deliberate assaults on international law” and must be called out “without euphemism and without equivocation”. www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-4...
The footage appears to contradict President Donald Trump’s claim it was an Iranian missile that hit the school on Feb. 28. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
That the destination plants many people rely on for water are on the table in both Iran and Gulf states is not good www.gdnonline.com/Details/1377...
A review by @ntabrizy.bsky.social and myself of post-strike videos, images, satellite imagery and mapping data shows that a civilian park hosting an EMS base in Shiraz was directly hit, killing at least 20 and raising questions about mistaken targeting.
‘History longs to heal’: how Africa hopes to advance campaign for reparative justice for colonial crimes #reparations www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...
Use of incendiary weapons to target military objectives in civilian populated areas is prohibited given their indiscriminate effects and causing unnecessary suffering even if Israeli hasn't signed up to CCW Protocol III
New from Bellingcat - New photos released by the Israeli Air Force show a bomb not previously seen in Israeli service. Analysis suggests it’s a 2,000-lb class bomb fitted with a JDAM guidance kit, with markings indicating a possible incendiary component.
www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...
Caitlin KALINOWSKI over X I resigned from OpenAl. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn't an easy call. Al has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I'm proud of what we built together.
OpenAI head of robotics just resigned over company deal with the Pentagon saying…
“Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got”
Even if it is a "mistake," it can still be a war crime. A person who acts recklessly in causing disproportionate civilian deaths can be found to have acted “wilfully” and thus responsible for a war crime.
Read "'Mistakes' in War": papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/w...
South Sudan soldiers to face trial over killing of civilians
South Sudan’s army confirmed on March 4th that its own soldiers will face a military trial over the killing of civilians in Jonglei state, Africanews via AFP reported. Two officers, including a major and a number of non-commissioned…
The United Kingdom is not only aiding and assisting the United States’ unlawful use of force against Iran but also is running the risk of committing an act of aggression itself.
The 1974 Definition of Aggression of the UN General Assembly includes the following:
BBC Verify has analysed verified videos and satellite imagery that show severe damage to a hospital, sporting centres, a UNESCO world heritage site and two schools since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday, as the number of civilian casualties grows.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“Without urgent international action, we risk sleepwalking into an era where wars begin, escalate & kill at machine speed, all while humans watch events they no longer fully control – & possibly comes at the risk of their own extinction.” @bmomani.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Cyber operations against water infrastructure are not legally low-impact just because they are digital or, for now, short-lived, argue Szymon Skalski and Natosha Hoduski. lieber.westpoint.edu/when-red-lin...
Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.
This includes the locations of warships and aircraft
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Yet killed over 170 children and potentially hundreds of other civilians
Reuters Exclusive
"U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school."
"The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of U.S. conflicts in the Middle East."
"Verified videos and satellite imagery show extensive damage around the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in Minab and the adjacent Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps compound. It also suggests the area was 'struck by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes'"
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Fomenting a revolution when you have little ability to control how events play out on the ground can lead to unfavourable outcomes.
Current top read:
@ntabrizy.bsky.socialexplains how an open-source investigation debunked viral claims that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accidentally bombed a girls’ school in Minab, showing the evidence circulating online was misidentified or fabricated.
U.S. Military Joins Drug War in Ecuador: “It Wasn’t Going to Be Just Boat Strikes Forever”
Two government officials told The Intercept that the joint U.S.–Ecuador military action won’t just be a one-off raid.
theintercept.com/2026/03/04/u...
(1) After each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled. (2) Whenever circumstances permit, the Parties to the conflict shall conclude local arrangements for the removal of the wounded and sick by sea from a besieged or encircled area and for the passage of medical and religious personnel and equipment on their way to that area.
As I've addressed this issue in a few interviews today, here's Article 18 of the Second Geneva Convention which bears on the duties to search for and collect the shipwrecked following engagements at sea—such as the sinking of the Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
Globally, mycorrhizal fungal communities move roughly a billion tons of carbon per year into Earth's soils, above all in old-growth forests.
Wild, natural ecosystems are the bedrock of a healthy planet. It's time we started recognising and acting on that.
share.google/afcBcyPH7lVc...
British PM Starmer says that U.K. bases will only be used for ’defensive’ operations and not ‘offensive’ ops. But how can that be so when they are being used by the aggressor?
Great discussion here with Milanovic, @adhaque.bsky.social @janinadill.bsky.social
www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/u...