A U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone flies in the skies above Nevada.
U.S. Air Force photo/Haley Stevens
The use of drone strikes raises a host of ethical issues. US military chaplains − the armed forces’ moral conscience − have questions.
A woman chants slogans as she holds an Iranian flag during an anti-Israeli gathering in Tehran on April 19, 2024. Israel reportedly retaliated against Iran on April 19 for its drone-and-missile assault on Israel a week earlier.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israel’s latest missile strike on Iran may be more a face-saving exercise aimed at satisfying members of its coalition government than a true escalation of hostilities.
A Nigerien official explains to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken the jihadist crisis facing Niger and the surrounding region in March 2023.
Boureima Hama/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The disintegration of the United States’ relationship with Niger following its military coup in 2023 is giving way to stronger ties between the African country and Russia and China.
The Israeli Iron Dome air defence system launches to intercept missiles fired from Iran in central Israel on April 14, 2024, after Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel.
(AP Photo/Tomer Neuberg)
Despite launching an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, Iran is still trying to avoid a larger war.
The scene in the Bureij refugee camp following an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Nov. 14, 2023.
AP Photo/Adel Hana
Proportionality requires that lives of civilians on both sides of a conflict must be treated with the same degree of respect.
Streets are flooded in Kherson, Ukraine, after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed. While the war in Ukraine is largely conventional, the use of paramilitary forces by both sides could escalate hostilities in the months to come.
(AP Photo/Libkos)
Both Russia and Ukraine are using paramilitary forces in their enduring conflict. But employing such forces poses serious risks for both countries.
Drone strikes in Moscow shocked and scared local inhabitants.
EPA-EFE/Maxim Shipenkov
Now Russians may start feeling the fear that has afflicted ordinary Ukrainians since February 2022.
Russian security forces take measures near a damaged site following a drone strike on May 30, 2023.
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
As drone strikes become a more routine part of warfare, a set of rules or standards that can help determine how they are used in warfare is needed, writes a former US diplomat.
A Somali soldier looks out from a military base where a US special operations soldier was killed by a mortar attack south of Mogadishu in 2018.
Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP via Getty Images
Al-Shabaab remains a strong regional actor and has proved itself to be a resilient force. It’s time to weigh a non-war strategic option
Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Q-UGV.
US Space Force photo by Senior Airman Samuel Becker
The sentient, murderous humanoid robot is a complete fiction, and may never become reality. But that doesn’t mean we’re safe from autonomous weapons – they are already here.
Who will replace the man who replaced bin Laden?
Visual News/Getty Images
The US strike against al-Zawahri leaves the future of al-Qaida at a crossroads as the terrorist movement looks for a new leader.
Dutch defence minister, Ank Bijleveld, and air force colonel Peter Tankink briefing journalists about a raid on an car factory in Hawija in November 2015 in which more than 70 civilians were killed.
EPA-EFE/Lex van Lieshout
Western militaries all too often try to hide the fact of civilian casualties as they spoil the popular narrative of a “clean” war.
Michael Fitzsimmons / Alamy Stock Photo
The first modern, lethal drone strike took place one month after 9/11. Twenty years later, our view of warfare and military personnel has completely changed.
Unlawful killing: the UN condemned the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
EPA-EFE/ Abedin Taherkenareh
States are increasingly using assassination to guard against the twin threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
A military drone replica is displayed in front of the White House during a protest against drone strikes on January 12, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
In spite of a massive military effort the war against al-Shabaab has been effectively stalemated since 2016.
Kit Leong/Shutterstock
The drone probably used to kill Iranian general Qassem Soleimani doesn’t take away all risks and responsibilities from military personnel.
Mourners at the funeral for Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani burn Israeli and U.S. flags.
Hamid Vakili/NurPhoto via Getty Images
It’s very dangerous to assume that Iran will not escalate the crisis further, much less that the US could limit any violence that might ensue.
Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for slain Iranian Revolutionary Guards Major General Qassem Soleimani in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Jan. 3, 2020.
ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump’s Iran policy took a dramatic turn when the US killed Iran’s top military commander in a drone strike. To avoid war, one foreign policy scholar says Trump has to reverse his stance.
An unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over southern Afghanistan.
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Civilian casualty counts are a powerful tool for propaganda – and for establishing peace.
In 2017 US President Donald Trump intensified the use of drones in Somalia.
EPA/Lt-col Leslie Pratt
Drones are a tool to manage the threat of al-Shabaab, but there’s no way they’ll defeat the group entirely.