Military attack that does not distinguish between military targets and civilian targets
In international humanitarian law and international criminal law, an indiscriminate attack is a military attack that fails to distinguish between legitimate military targets and protected persons. Indiscriminate attacks strike both legitimate military and protected objects alike, thus violating the principle of distinction between combatants and protected civilians. They differ from direct (or deliberate) attacks against protected civilians and encompass cases in which the perpetrators are indifferent as to the nature of the target, cases in which the perpetrators use tactics or weapons that are inherently indiscriminate (e.g., cluster munitions, anti-personnel mines, nuclear weapons), and cases in which the attack is disproportionate, because it is likely to cause excessive protected civilian casualties and damages to protected objects.
Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited both by the Geneva Conventions Additional Protocol I (1977) and by customary international humanitarian law. They constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the perpetrators can be prosecuted and held responsible in international and domestic courts.
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an indiscriminateattack is a military attack that fails to distinguish between legitimate military targets and protected persons. Indiscriminate attacks...
Russian military have carried out deliberate attacks against civilian targets and indiscriminateattacks in densely-populated areas. The United Nations...
civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminateattacks, the use of human shields, rape, torture and pillage. Determining...
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and incendiary weapons in Syria, constituting the war crime of indiscriminateattacks in a civilian populated area. OHCHR also found Russia guilty of...
Specificity: A targeted attack attempts to allow a specific intrusion/disruption. Alternatively, an indiscriminateattack creates general mayhem. This...
civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminateattacks, collective punishment, starvation, the use of human shields, sexual...
that "significant quantities of sarin were used in a well-planned indiscriminateattack targeting civilian-inhabited areas, causing mass casualties. The...
itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism,' he said. "World reaction to surprise attack by Palestinian Hamas on Israel"....
community considers indiscriminateattacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law. Palestinian militants say rocket attacks are a response...
suicide attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals and militant groups, usually against Israeli civilian targets. The use of indiscriminateattacks on...
plaintiffs in the case. The cases concerned the Russian federal forces' indiscriminate aerial bombing of a civilian convoy of refugees fleeing Grozny in October...
and Milan attacked the buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of the Carabinieri. The police indiscriminatelyattacked the building's...
warships, but they have also indiscriminatelyattacked the ships of many nations. From October 2023 to March 2024, the Houthis attacked more than 60 vessels in...
region, residents and opposition parties accuse gov't forces of indiscriminateattack". Addis Standard. 15 August 2023. Archived from the original on...
justifies targeting American civilians in retaliation against the indiscriminateattacks of U.S. military forces, arguing that U.S. nationals indirectly...
prohibiting the deliberate or indiscriminateattack of civilians and civilian objects in international armed conflicts; the attacking force must take precautions...
action". According to prosecutors, Hamo bears responsibility for indiscriminateattacks in Homs and Hama between January and July 2012. Charges were filed...
collective punishment. The international community considers the use of indiscriminateattacks on civilian populations as illegal under international law. Muslim...
witness described the attackers as bearded men. Amateur video footage verified by BBC Verify showed masked gunmen shooting indiscriminately in the entrance...
certain buildings and property. The 1977 AP 1 defines what is an "indiscriminateattack". An additional 1977 protocol extends this to cover historic monuments...
Christiania café. A young man had part of his jaw blown off in an indiscriminateattack last night in the Christiania area of Copenhagen. The 22-year-old...
the public were misled into seeing the Yuen Long attacks as a “one-sided indiscriminate terrorist attack”, as the incident was in fact “started off as a...