Civilian Targets Research Articles

Biowarfare against the Nazis: the ethics, efficacy and consequences of a forgotten operation by the Czech resistance in the Second World War

This article investigates a little-known instance of biological warfare in the Czech lands during the first phase of the Nazi occupation in 1939–1940. The authors analyse the case in terms of the motivations, the related ethical challenges, strategies and tactics. Using archival materials, for the first time, they describe in detail the activities of the so-called Vignati group, a part of the broader Czech resistance organisation Obrana národa. Strategically, these activities were an attack against German military and civilian targets, but the objectives were not reached tactically because the biological agents used proved ineffective.

What I don't know can hurt you: Collateral combat damage seems more acceptable when bystander victims are unidentified.

Five experiments (N = 2,204) examined responses to a realistic moral dilemma: a military pilot must decide whether to bomb a dangerous enemy target, also killing a bystander. Few people endorsed bombing when the bystander was an innocent civilian; however, when the bystander's identity was unknown, over twice as many people endorsed the bombing. Follow-up studies tested boundary conditions and found the effect to extend beyond modern-day conflicts in the Middle East, showing a similar pattern of judgment for a fictional war. Bombing endorsement was predicted by attitudes towards total war, the theory that there should be no distinction between military and civilian targets in wartime conflict. Bombing endorsement was lower for UK compared to US participants due to differences in total war attitudes. This work has implications for conflicts where unidentified bystanders are common by revealing a potentially deadly bias: people often assume unidentified bystanders are guilty unless proven innocent.

Verbal attacks on terrorist groups increase violence against civilians

Abstract Terrorists and other transnational extremist groups are responsible for thousands of civilian deaths. In confronting extremists, governments have relied heavily on threats, demands, denunciations, and other forms of verbal conflict. Do these efforts at verbal coercion have any effect on terrorist behavior? This analysis focuses on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which continues to be the world's deadliest terrorist group and was responsible for recent high-profile attacks in Baghdad, Vienna, Kabul, and Russia. We use Bayesian structural vector autoregression models to analyze daily event data on interactions between ISIS and foreign governments for the 2014–2020 period. We find that verbal conflict initiated by governments not only failed to deter ISIS but in fact increased the frequency of ISIS's attacks on civilians. Additional empirical analyses, combined with evidence from ISIS's publications and public statements, suggest that this effect resulted from a perceived credibility deficit. Extremists use terror attacks to signal that they have the capabilities and willingness to inflict pain and suffering on civilian targets. Government attempts to coerce extremist groups verbally, rather than militarily, reflect an underestimation of the group's capabilities and resolve. In an effort to solidify their reputations, extremists engage in further violence toward civilians, thus leading to worse humanitarian consequences. We extend the analysis to Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Boko Haram and find similar results.

Comparative Study of Categories Protected During Armed Conflict in Islamic Law and International Humanitarian Law

Islam has emerged in the Arabian Peninsula as a universal human religion that advocates virtue, humanity, and compassion. Isalm has established detailed rules for protecting civilians and civilian targets during armed conflicts. The Islamic Shari'a rules recommended compassion for enemies, not over-killing them, and refraining from any act contrary to the provisions of the Islamic Shari'a. Islamic Shari'a, through its sources, such as the Holy Quran and the Prophet's Sunna, has established rules protecting the victims of war to decide on humanitarian provisions that are already considered for all humanitarian principles relating to the protection of victims of armed conflict and civilians who are not involved in such conflicts, i.e., non-combatants in general. Since the end of the nineteenth century and during the twentieth century, after World and regional wars have caused terrible humanitarian disasters from killing, displacement, torture, and other inhumane treatment, the world's peoples and States have been alerted to the need to establish rules protecting specific groups during armed conflicts, culminating in the international conventions, most notably the Hague Conventions 1899-1907, the four Geneva Conven Conventions of 1949 and the two Protocols 1977 annexed to it. This paper addresses “the categories Protected during armed conflicts in the Islamic Shari'a and those protected in international humanitarian law by reviewing what has been recognized in the Islamic Shari'a for the protection of specific categories during armed conflict and what has been dealt with in the international conventions.

Rapid, Simultaneous Detection of Various Biological Toxin Genes Using Multiplex Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification(RT-LAMP)

Rapid, early, accurate detection and identification of the various pathogenic agents associated with the development of biological weapons is critical in preventing loss of life and limiting the impact of these organisms when used against civilian or military targets. The aim of this study was to produce a system for the simple, rapid, accurate and simultaneous detection and identification of Ricin, Botulinum toxin B and Staphylococcal enterotoxin B as a proof of principle for developing field appropriate reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification systems for the accurate identification of potential biological threats. These systems were designed to facilitate the identification of potential threats even in remote or resource-limited locations.

Analyzing unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) attacks; a disaster medicine perspective

IntroductionUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, have rapidly become more diverse in capabilities and utilization through technology advancements and affordability. While drones have had significant positive impact on healthcare and consumer delivery particularly in remote and austere environments, Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs) have increasingly used drones as weapons in planning and executing terrorist attacks resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. We aim to analyze drone-related attacks globally against civilians and critical infrastructure for more effective hospital and prehospital care preparedness. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) from 1970 to 2020 to analyze the worldwide prevalence of drone-related attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure. Cases were excluded if they had insufficient information regarding a drone involvement, and if attacks were conducted by the government entities. The trends in the number of attacks per month, as well as the number of fatalities and injuries, were examined using time series and trend analysis. ResultsThe database search yielded 253 drone-related incidents, 173 of which met inclusion criteria. These incidents resulted in 92 fatalities and 215 injuries with civilian targets most commonly attacked by drones (76 events, 43.9%), followed by military (46 events, 26.5-%). The Middle East region was most affected (168 events, 97% of attacks) and the Islamic state of Iraq was the most common perpetrator (106 events, 61.2%). Almost all attacks were by explosive devices attached to drones (172 events, 99.4%). Time series with linear trend analyses suggested an upward trends of drone attacks by VNSAs, resulting in a greater number of injuries and fatalities, that became more frequent over the years. ConclusionsOvertime, there were upward trends of drone attacks, with higher lethality and morbidity. There were more injuries compared to fatalities. Most common region affected was the Middle East, and most common type of weapon employed by drone technology was explosive weapon. Investment in medical personnel training, security, and research is crucial for an effective mass-casualty incident response after the drone attacks.

Which Target is the Right Target? The Connection Between Terrorists’ Reputation Building and Target Selection

ABSTRACT Terrorist organizations do not attack random targets, but rather there is a strategic logic behind their target selection. Given that some common targets are associated with significant reputational costs, risks, and repercussions to terrorist organizations, what explains their targeting choices? Utilizing the Reputation of Terror Groups Dataset and including indicators from the Global Terrorism Database, we argue that targeting choices of terrorist organizations hinge on their reputational concerns with respect to their core constituents. Groups that invest in building a positive reputation in the eyes of their intended constituents are inclined toward concentrating a larger number of their attacks on hard targets, whereas groups that engage in reputationally-damaging actions that harm their constituents are more likely to go after civilian targets in larger numbers. Our results show that there is indeed a statistically significant and important relationship between reputation building and target selection by terrorist groups.

Turn and Burn: Loss Dynamic and Civilian Targeting in the Angolan War

Turn and Burn: Loss Dynamic and Civilian Targeting in the Angolan War

Military education in extended reality (XR): learning troublesome knowledge through immersive experiential application

Extended reality (XR) applications for education are usually associated with motivation, engagement, knowledge and experiences that are difficult to achieve in the real world. One example of such knowledge in military education is the threat-based approach to protection of civilians in armed conflicts. The Norwegian Defence University College (NDUC) educates officers on the threat-based approach. This approach challenges conventional military practice, introducing new ways of thinking about what military forces can and cannot do to protect civilians from violence. Today, militaries are expected to protect civilians from perpetrators that target them as part of their warfare, expanding their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law. This expansion of tasks represents “troublesome knowledge” for many military officers and demands a deeper understanding of the rationales and strategies driving perpetrators’ targeting of civilians. To overcome this pedagogical challenge, we developed an XR-supported educational program combining immersive experiences and pedagogical approaches, including combined 360°-videos and embodiment, dialogue with virtual humans and collaborative VR-landscapes to encourage immersive peer-to-peer learning. The results are encouraging, suggesting high levels of acceptance by learners of the threat-based concept, an effect on stimulating critical discussion and a positive reaction to XR-supported learning.

Land Warfare During the Russian-Ukrainian War and International Humanitarian Law

The Russo-Ukrainian War is one of the largest – and probably the most intensive – conflicts of the last several decades. Fought between large, regular, and well-equipped forces of two sides, it naturally provides an extremely wide scope of materials for analysis as to the functioning of ius in bello. At the current stage, however, the evidence is often piecemeal and unclear, particularly taking into consideration the lack of access to documents and to Russian materials. While there is a significant body of evidence to indicate serious violations of humanitarian law, including indiscriminate or deliberate attacks on civilian targets, a detailed analysis requires taking into consideration a broader scope of circumstances which at this point are unclear. One of areas where we have strong evidence, if based on a sample, is the issue of the treatment of the prisoners of war. In general, the initial information seems to indicate widespread and systematic violations of humanitarian law during the conflict.

제주4·3과 젠더기반폭력

The Jeju 4·3 Incident constitutes state violence targeting civilians, including gender-based violence, mass killings, and war crimes. However, throughout the Cold War era, all acts of violence were justified and concealed under anti-communist ideology. In particular, gender-based violence perpetrated against the socially vulnerable during armed conflicts has remained largely silenced. This paper reframes the essence of the Jeju 4.3 Incident through the prism of gender-based violence. At that time, gender-based violence, primarily perpetrated by military and police forces of the Northwest Youth Corp, included violence and murder against pregnant women and fetuses, sexual torture, killing of escapees and their families, sexual assault and rape, sexual exploitation and murder, mass rape, forced marriage, and forced sexual acts, comprising eight types of mechanisms. These acts were combined with acts of violence constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, such as civilian killings, mass killings, and torture. Gender-based violence in the Jeju 4·3 Incident clearly indicates that it was a genocide approved by state power, involving indiscriminate killings and human rights abuses against civilians, which is beyond the level of suppressing certain leftist factions. Therefore, further investigation is necessary to redefine the nature of the Jeju 4·3 Incident.

New Territory, Geographic Diffusion and Civilian Targeting

New Territory, Geographic Diffusion and Civilian Targeting

Diplomatic Statements and the Strategic Use of Terrorism in Civil Wars

How does third-party diplomatic and material support affect rebel groups’ use of terrorism in civil wars? We argue via a game-theoretic model that diplomatic support prompts prospective shifts in rebel tactics, from civilian to military targets, in anticipation of material support, while material support alters the cost structure of attacks, leading to the same tactical shift. We empirically test the model’s implications using an original dataset of UN resolutions about countries in civil wars as well as a case study of South Africa. In support of our theory, we find that both diplomatic resolutions and material interventions in favor of the rebels are associated with rebel tactical shifts, leading to decreased reliance on violence against civilians. These findings demonstrate the value of modeling civilian and military targeting as substitutes rather than examining civilian targeting in isolation.

Embargoes, Weapons, and Violence: The Conditional Effects of Arms Embargoes on Civilian Targeting

Abstract A primary goal of arms embargoes is to mitigate the humanitarian effects of conflict within target states by restricting access to foreign weaponry. Within this study, we investigate how embargoed governments adapt their violent strategies in response to restrictions on arms imports. We theorize that arms embargoes that undermine governments’ military strength may inadvertently increase their reliance on civilian repression as an alternative approach to countering domestic threats. However, we expect that targeted governments’ ability to acquire weapons from non-participating or non-compliant suppliers will have a mitigating effect. A global examination of the effects of arms embargoes between 1989 and 2004 supports our argument and also suggests that both the levels of arms received and who supplies them matter. Our findings suggest that policymakers who employ arms embargoes should consider increased violence against civilians as a potential unintended consequence and closely monitor target governments’ use of repression.

Controlling a moving world: Territorial control, displacement and the spread of civilian targeting in Iraq

How do armed actors respond to population movements during civil wars? I argue that displacement alters local balances of control between territorial rulers and challengers. Local territorial rulers have incentives to govern violently if displaced persons perceived as members of opposing loyalty groups move into their territories and challengers spoil local governance by inflicting harm on civilians if incoming supporters of a local ruler reinforce the governor’s control. To test these dynamics, I use a combination of manual coding and machine learning to create a novel monthly dataset of territorial control, one-sided violence against moving populations and displacement patterns disaggregated by ethno-religious groups in the war against the Islamic State (2014–2017) in Iraq. Using negative binomial count models, I find that territorial challengers and rulers distinctively respond to population movements in Iraq. The paper extends previous theories of civilian victimization and territorial control by conceptualizing local populations as a dynamic element that explains where fleeing civilians become moving targets.

Violence beyond the Battlefield: Civilian Targeting, Sexual Violence, and Women’s Political Empowerment

Abstract Research has established links between intrastate conflict and political gains by women following war, suggesting that changes of a positive nature can emerge from the misery of war. While much of the empirical focus on conflicts’ transformative effects has been on battle-related violence, we investigate whether pro-social effects are associated with two other types of violence perpetrated against civilians—one-sided violence and sexual violence. We expect that both one-sided violence and sexual violence spur mobilization, which in turn contributes to gains in women’s political empowerment. Informed by feminist scholarship, we also draw attention to social and political constraints associated with high levels of sexual violence, restrictions that we argue women are unlikely to confront to a similar degree with respect to high levels of one-sided and other forms of violence. We posit that these factors will result in the attenuation of gains in women’s political power in conflicts characterized by high levels of sexual violence. Using cross-national data on civil conflicts for the period 1989–2017, we find that moderate levels of sexual violence are consistently associated with gains in women’s political empowerment, an effect that diminishes in conflicts marked by widespread sexual violence. One-sided violence, on the other hand, is not associated with improvements in women’s political empowerment. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the different forms of wartime violence, and the differential impacts these forms of violence have on women.​

Technological Innovations and Regional Security Control towards Sustainable Development in the G5 Sahel Region

The Sahel region has suffered multiple security threats that have posed multiple challenges to the security of the entire region and other parts of the world. Following a buildup of security threats in the region since 2012, the US and EU have partnered to provide troops to bolster security and forestall the spread of radicalization into terrorism. This paper focuses on the role of technological innovations on security control and crime management, provides background to the study, with focus on the rise of technology on security control and crime management. The paper also discusses the history of the crisis in the Sahel, focusing on the G5 Sahel, and provides key recommendations on the use of technology as a panacea for security control and crime management in the G5 Sahel. The study was based on securitization theory and was carried out using case-study research design based on three objectives: to assess the current technological innovation infrastructure in use in the G5 Sahel region, evaluate the impact of technological innovations in crime management and security control in the G5 Sahel region and to assess the potential of emerging technological innovations in addressing crime and security management in the G5 Sahel and the broader Sub-Saharan Africa. Technological innovations are critical components of addressing cross border challenges. However, technology can also lead to insecurity challenges, where insurgents use them to perpetrate crimes, including using UAVs to strike at civilian targets. The researchers find that the use of technology has become consequential in the fight against crime and insecurity. They also find that technology has helped address emergent needs in crime and security management in the G5 Sahel. They recommend that there is need to re-imagine the G5 Sahel to increase coordination among member states. They also call for further studies on the impacts of “false flags” on social media, which could be used to negatively profile otherwise harmless civilians. They also call for greater and meaningful public participation to ensure the deployment of new technologies is supported by the public.

A Multi-Domain Joint Novel Method for ISAR Imaging of Multi-Ship Targets

As a key object on the ocean, regulating civilian and military ship targets more effectively is a very important part of maintaining maritime security. One of the ways to obtain high-resolution images of ship targets is the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging technique. However, in the actual ISAR imaging process, ship targets in a formation often lead to complicated motion conditions. Due to the close distance between the ship targets, the rough imaging results of the targets cannot be completely separated in the image domain, and the small differences in motion parameters lead to overlapping phenomena in the Doppler history. Therefore, for situations in which ship formation targets with little difference in motion parameters are included in the same radar beam, this paper proposes a multi-domain joint ISAR separation imaging method for multi-ship targets. First, the method performs echo separation using the Hough transform (HT) with the minimum entropy autofocus method in the image domain. Secondly, the time–frequency curve is extracted in the time–frequency domain using the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) for time–frequency analysis, which solves the problem of the ship formation targets being aliased on both echo and Doppler history after range compression and achieves the purpose of separating the echo signals of the sub-ship targets with high accuracy. Eventually, better-focused images of each target are obtained via further motion compensation and precise imaging. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using a simulation and measured data.

드론테러의 현황과 특성 분석 연구

Recently, drones have been used as a major means of terrorism and interest in drone terrorism has increased through the North Korean drone incident and the war in Ukraine, but empirical research on drone terrorism is lacking. In this regard, this study analyzes current status and characteristics of drone terrorism around the world using GTD data from the START in the United States. From the data collected from 1970 to 2021, only 315 cases of drone terrorism using drones as a means of terrorism were extracted and analyzed. According to the analysis, the number of drone terrorism incidents by year has been increasing since 2018, with the highest level of 131 incidents in 2021. By region, the Middle East and North Africa region is the most concentrated with 291 incidents, and by country, Saudi Arabia is the highest with 148 incidents, followed by Yemen and Iraq. Among drone terrorist organizations, Houthi extremists have attempted the most drone attacks (211), while ISIL has the highest success rate (91.7%). More than 90% of drone attacks utilized explosives. Finally, in terms of targets, ISIL had the highest percentage of attacks against military, civilian, and property targets. Based on this study, we hope that various studies on drone terrorism and active discussions on drone terrorism prevention and response will be conducted.

Why are some suicide terror attacks more newsworthy than others?

ABSTRACT Given their deeply deviant nature, suicide terror attacks are highly newsworthy events and in theory, should attract high levels of media coverage. However, this is not the case and some suicide bombings tend to be covered more extensively than others. Through a detailed case study of Boko Haram, this research delineates the conditions under which suicide attacks are more likely to be covered across national, regional and international media outlets. The analysis relied on a dataset of 473 suicide attacks carried out by Boko Haram since 2011. Drawing on a news media distortion analysis, this study finds multiple attributes of suicide terrorism can entice heightened levels of reporting. Suicide attacks entailing higher fatalities, female perpetrators and civilian targets all lead to greater media attention while ambiguity in terms of perpetrator gender identity significantly diminishes coverage. Moreover, all of these factors are robust across national, regional and international media outlets, though the effect of gender is strongest for international media sources. Suicide attacks on Nigerian soil are generally more likely to be covered compared to attacks elsewhere in West Africa where Boko Haram is also active and this effect is especially strong for international media coverage.