Armed conflict

Armed conflict is organized hostilities between states or between states and organized armed groups. International humanitarian law regulates how parties may conduct these hostilities and protects people affected by them.

International humanitarian law: The body of international law that limits the effects of armed conflict and protects people who are not or are no longer fighting. Its rules govern conduct in armed conflict and protection of people affected by hostilities.
Proportionality (international humanitarian law): The rule prohibiting attacks expected to cause excessive civilian harm relative to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. It limits attacks even when their targets are military objectives.
Battle of Solferino: An 1859 battle in northern Italy whose wounded soldiers and inadequate relief inspired Henry Dunant’s humanitarian campaign. Its aftermath helped spur organized relief efforts that influenced modern laws of war.
Spanish Civil War: A 1936–1939 conflict between Spain’s Republican government and Nationalist forces led by Francisco Franco. It illustrates international involvement in a conflict fought within one state.
International armed conflict: A resort to armed force between states, regardless of whether either state recognizes a state of war. This is the state-to-state category of armed conflict.
Military necessity: A principle permitting only measures necessary to achieve a legitimate military purpose and not otherwise prohibited by law. It constrains military action without overriding specific humanitarian-law prohibitions.
Henry Dunant: A Swiss humanitarian whose account of the Battle of Solferino helped inspire the Red Cross and the first Geneva Convention. His campaigning helped turn concern about wartime suffering into institutions and treaties.
Korean War: A 1950–1953 war between North Korea and South Korea, with extensive intervention by foreign forces. It shows how intervention by states can complicate a conflict’s legal classification.
Non-international armed conflict: Protracted armed violence between a state and organized armed groups, or between such groups, within a state. This category covers qualifying hostilities that do not involve two states fighting each other.
Precautionary principle (international humanitarian law): The obligation to take feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects from the effects of attacks. It requires parties to reduce foreseeable civilian harm before and during attacks.

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