“They’re breaking the law either way,” said Sarah Harrison, a former associate general counsel at the Pentagon who now serves as a senior analyst at the Crisis Group think tank. “They’re killing civilians in the first place, and then if you assume they’re combatants, it’s also unlawful — under the law of armed conflict, if somebody is ‘hors de combat’ and no longer able to fight, then they have to be treated humanely.”
Details of the strikes were first reported by The Intercept and the Washington Post.
“Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Hegseth said.
