Koh: There are some things that are permitted by the laws of war, including killing combatants of the other side. But it doesn’t extend to targeting civilians, torturing people and other kinds of acts. What’s being proposed here is attacks on essential civilian infrastructure.
Dannenbaum: Everything that is not military by nature, [which] would include things like tanks, munitions, military bases and fortifications … is presumptively civilian. In other words, there’s not a distinction between civilian infrastructure and other things. There’s a distinction between civilian objects and military objectives. And everything starts as a civilian object, until, by its nature, purpose, location or use, it makes an effective contribution to military action, such that its destruction or neutralization would yield a definite military advantage.
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