Related Rule
United States of America
Practice Relating to Rule 11. Indiscriminate Attacks
The US Air Force Pamphlet (1976) states: “Particular weapons or methods of warfare may be prohibited because of their indiscriminate effects.”
The US Naval Handbook (2007) states: “The principle of distinction, combined with the principle of military necessity, prohibits indiscriminate attacks.”
In 1992, in its final report to Congress on the conduct of the Gulf War, the US Department of Defense stated: “Iraqi war crimes … included … indiscriminate attacks in the launching of Scud missiles against cities rather than specific military objectives, in violation of customary international law.”
In its written statement submitted to the ICJ in the
Nuclear Weapons (WHO) case in 1994, the United States stated: “It is unlawful to conduct any indiscriminate attack.”
In 1996, the Monitoring Group on the Implementation of the 1996 Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Understanding, consisting of France, Israel, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and the United States, issued communiqués requesting that all parties avoid arbitrary or indiscriminate attacks on inhabited areas which directly or indirectly endangered civilian life or integrity.