About the author(s):
Yiokasti Mouratidi is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of International and Operational Law at the Swedish Defence University, jointly with the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance at Utrecht University. Her PhD focuses on compliance with the law of armed conflict, particularly through the lens of technological developments. Previously, Yiokasti obtained her LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University (2022) and her LLB in Law with European Law from the University of Nottingham (2019). Yiokasti has a strong interest in international humanitarian law and international security law.
We are very pleased to present the legal roundup for March – August 2026, containing publications on issues relating to armed groups and international law, non-international armed conflict, rebel governance, transitional justice and international criminal law. It was prepared by Yiokasti Mouratidi, and finalised with input from Katharine Fortin, Ezequiel Heffes, Florian Weigand, Anki Sjöberg, Andrea Farrés, Saeed Bagheri, Jelena Aparac and Sama Germanier.
If you have a 2026 publication which you think should be included in this roundup, please do not hesitate to contact the editors of the blog.
Please note that due to paywalls and your institution’s permissions, the given link may not always take you to the text of the article. The Armed Groups and International law blog has published legal roundups since 2012. For previous versions of the legal roundup, see here.
Non-State Armed Groups, Non-International Armed Conflicts and International Law
Bagshaw, L. Analysing the Disaster Risk Reduction Obligations of Occupying Powers, Yearbook of International Disaster Law Online, 2026
Berkes, A. International Law without Statehood: The Outlier Application of International law by Eurasian De Facto Regimes, Asian Journal of International Law 16(2), 2026
Bickness, D. Quelling Insurrections: Lethal Force, Human Rights and the Laws of War, Hart Publishing, 2026
Casas, A., Browning-Underwood, J., Yanik, S., Maves Braithwaite, J. War as women’s work: dissident civil society mobilization and women’s participation in rebellion, Journal of Peace Research 63(3), 2026
Diamond, E. and van Benthem, T. Protections against cumulative mental harm under international humanitarian law, International Review of the Red Cross 108(932), 2026
Diamond, E., Nohle, E. Humanitarian Displacement? The (Mis-)Appropriation of Humanitarian Principles to Justify Mass Displacement, in Krieger, H., Kalmanovitz, P., Lieblich, E., Sexton, J.P. (eds) Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Volume 27, 2024.
Derejko, N. Identifying Non-International Armed Conflict. International Law and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2026
Djanaralieva, K. Prolonged occupation of Palestine by Israel: A violation of occupation law or an abuse of it?, Leiden JIL 39(2), 2026
Grey, R. Reproductive violence against child soldiers, Leiden JIL 39(2), 2026
Hammouri, S. Reckoning With the Paradox of Regulating the Arms Industry: The Context of Palestine, Business and Human Rights Journal 11(1), 2026
Hazelwood, J. and Nicoll, C. ‘Not mini-civlians: The legal obligations towards children as children in armed conflict, International Review of the Red Cross, 2026
Heffes, E. and Weizmann, N. The International Law of Non-International Armed Conflict, Oxford University Press, 2026
Holmes, S. Incidental mental harm though a decolonial lens: A culturally and contextually sensitive implementation of the principle of proportionality, International Review of the Red Cross 108(932), 2026
Kari, V. The Classical Doctrine of Civil War in International Law, CUP, 2026
Luster, T. Litigating Slow Violence: Deprivation in Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, and the Limits of International Humanitarian Law, Harvard ILJ 67(2), 2026
Maddocks, J. Attribution of Non-State Actor Conduct during Armed Conflict, OUP (Lieber Studies Series) 2026)
McKeever, D. The International Court of Justice and international counter-terrorism law: impact to date and the potential for more, Cambridge International Law Journal 15(1), 2026
Rosen, B. Perpetual War and International Law: Enduring Legacies of the War on Terror, OUP, 2026
Vandeput, L. White lie or IHL violations? An IHL analysis of the disinformation campaign against Syria Civil Defence (the White Helmets), The Military Law and the Law of War Review 64(1), 2026
Vanhullebusch, M. The Case for a Prohibition on Arbitrary Denial of Humanitarian Relief in Non-International Armed Conflicts: Prospects, Challenges and Ways Ahead, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 17(1), 2025
Udorji, C. International Law and the Use of Indirect Force: the legal status of proxy wars, Routledge, 2026
Rebel governance and civilian agency
Akanji, O. O. “Why wait till we [all] die?” community vulnerability and response to banditry in selected rural communities in Nigeria, Small Wars & Insurgencies 2026
Babajide Owonikoko, S. From Boko Haram to Islamic State West Africa Province: the spread and consolidation of Salafi Jihadist influence in the Lake Chad region, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Beidollahkhani, A. The invisible front: exploring the dynamics of Afghan resistance movements in the shadow of the Taliban’s second authoritarian rule, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Bozcaga, T., & Christia, F. Imams and Patrons: Service Provision by Islamist Non-State Actors, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(5), 2026
Dash, M., & Haseen, A. Exiting the insurgency: the PKK’s strategic exhaustion in Turkey, 2016–2025, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Foster, M. J. The Growth Trap: Recruitment Windfalls and Bottom-Up Transformation in Militant Organizations. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2026
Gregory, T., Jones, C., Kinsella, H., Shah, N., Aburas, L. Enumerating civilian harm: experience, ethics, and erasure, Ethics and International Affairs 40(1), 2026
Hamhuis, B., & Nanninga, P. The Spatial Dimension of Rebel Governance: The Islamic State’s Production of Social Space in Mosul (2014–2017), Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2026
Isar, S. Checkpoint Taxation and Neo-patrimonial Political Order in Afghanistan, Dev Change 57, 2026
Jang, Y. G. Beyond sponsor control: how proxies evade monitoring and preserve autonomy in proxy warfare, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Jules, Tavis D., Garrett, A., Christensen, C., Anderson, E., & Olsen, E. A Cultural Political Economy of Insurgent Strategic Communication: Islamic States’ Construction of J?h?di Imaginaries Through Digital Recruitment, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2026
Khwaileh, K.M. The limits of law in a post-Westphalian world: the legal and political status of powerful non-state armed actors—a comparative study of Hezbollah and the Houthis, Front. Polit. Sci. 8, 2026
Malejacq, R., Bhatia, J and Weigand, F. Governance and Institutions in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan, PS: Political Science & Politics, 2026
Mantilla, J.A. State–Crime Cooperation and Extra-legal Governance in Colombia and Venezuela, Dev Change 57, 2026
McCarthy, G. and Nyana, K. Roadblocks, Relationality and Resilient Resistance in Post-coup Myanmar, Dev Change 57, 2026
Negrón-Gonzales, M. Rebel Diplomacy: Syrian Democratic Forces’ Strategies to Secure US Support, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2026
Neil, T. and Htoo, S.D.C. Beyond the Rebel ‘Territorial Trap’: Governing Armed Sovereign Formations in Eastern Myanmar, Dev Change 57, 2026
Okunola, R., & Ayodele, A. Sovereignty under siege: state response, fragility and the political ecology of banditry in Sokoto, Nigeria, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Radon?i?, M. The Underdogs of Disaster Response? The Legal Framework Governing the Conduct of Organised Armed Groups in Disaster Settings, Yearbook of International Disaster Law Online, 2026
Schouten, P. Roadblock Geographies: A Typology of Extraction, Circulation, and Authority in Conflict, Area 58, 2026
Schouten, P., Boogaard, V.v.d., Gallien, M., Thakur, S. and Weigand, F. The Politics of Passage: Studying Checkpoints and Claim Making in Conflict-affected Settings, Dev Change 57, 2026
Schouten, P., Edle, A. and Norman, J. Isbaaro: Checkpoints and World Making beyond the State in Somalia, Dev Change 57, 2026
Seyam, M. A. Deterrence by proxy under denial: conditions for failure in Iran’s extended deterrence 2023–2025, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Soules, M. J., & Berlin, M. A Call to Arms: How Rebel Groups Choose Their Recruitment Appeals, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(5), 2026
Thakur, S. Not-so-Freeway: A Relational Approach to Checkpoints and Conflict in Northeast India Dev Change 57, 2026
van Dijk, B. Norm Making from the Margins: Armed Groups, the Algerian War, and South-South Legal Politics, International Organisation 80, 2026
Wolfendale, J. Collateral Voices: civilian perspectives, moral injury, and the ethics of war, Ethics and International Affairs 40(1), 2026
Zinati, P. ‘Escaping Isn’t for Everyone’: Kurdish Smugglers’ Navigational Tactics at Checkpoints in Iran, Dev Change 57, 2026
International Criminal Law
Badar, M.E., Altuntas, U., Amin E.M.A. Human dignity at crossroads: Navigating Eurocentrism in Sharia punishments in Prosecutor v. Al Hassan, Leiden Journal of International Law 39(1), 2026
Corliss, C. The War Crime of Spreading Terror, Yale JIL 51, 2026
Do?an, T. German Jurisprudence on the Yazidi Genocide: Understanding the Crime of Genocide in the Context of Armed Conflict, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Gaeta, P. Genocide by Killing: International Humanitarian Law and the Identification of Underlying Acts , Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Gerstein, B. The Srebrenica Paradoxes: Definitional Indeterminacy and Denialism, International Criminal Law Review 26(3)
Heller, K. J. IHL-Compliant Genocide, Indirect (Co-) Perpetration, and Innocent Agents, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Jones, A. The demographics of victim participation at the International Criminal Court, Leiden Journal of International Law 39(1), 2026
Kamran, N. and Mégret, N. Genocide by War?, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Kawai, K. Enabling Constraints in International Legal Discourse on the ICC’s Jurisdiction: The Case of the ‘Oslo Argument’ in the State of Palestine Situation, International Criminal Law Review, 2026
Klamberg, M. Beyond Physical and Biological Destruction? Resassessing Genocide in the Context of Armed Conflict, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Koutroulis, V. Inferring Genocidal Intent in Warfare: The Rule and Limits of International Humanitarian Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Libman, L. A., & Cohen, A. Why do we enforce the law against IHL violations? Reason-giving in Israeli court-martial judgments. The Military Law and the Law of War Review 63(2), 2026
Parsi, L. Ethnic Cleansing in Armed Conflict: Can Displacement Amount to Genocide? , Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Pinzauti, G. Humanitarian Assistance in Armed Conflict and Genocide ‘by Starvation’, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Powerly, J. War, Genocidal Intent, and the ‘Only Reasonable Inference’: An International Criminal Law Account, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Van Steenberghe, R. Genocidal Intent while Pursuing a Military Objective, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Wells, W. Battlefield evidence in Syria/Iraq and Ukraine: legal and strategic implications. The Military Law and the Law of War Review 64(1), 2026
Whiting, A. Proving Genocide at the ICJ: In the End, the Fight will be about the Facts Not the Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2026
Zidouemba, M. T. Constructing ‘Victim-Centred Peace’: The Contribution of the International Criminal Court’s Reparations to Victims in the Al-Mahdi Case in Timbuktu, International Criminal Law Review 26(3), 2026
Targeting, detention and administration of justice
Arslan, M. E. Did 3G Make Afghan Insurgents Fight More Effectively? A Disaggregated Study, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(7-8), 2026
Daniele, L. Indiscriminate and Disproportionate Attacks in International Law, Bloomsbury, 2026
Krieger, H., Jokubauskaite, G., Ozcelic, A., Buser, A. From Protracted Conflict to Sustainable Peace? The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus and International Law, OUP 2026
Mariconda, A. International Humanitarian Law’s Protection of Healthcare Under Pressure: An Assessment of the IDF’s Approach to “Hospital Shields” and “Acts Harmful to the Enemy” in the Conduct of Hostilities in Gaza, in Krieger, H., Kalmanovitz, P., Lieblich, E., Sexton, J.P. (eds) Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Volume 27, 2024.
Scarinzi, F. Counterinsurgency, Military Occupations, and Civilian Targeting: Explaining Indiscriminate Violence in Expeditionary Campaigns, Routledge, 2026
Schwab, R., Krause, W., & Massoud, S. The Bombing of Hospitals and Rebel Responses in Civil War. Evidence from Syria, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(7-8), 2026
Transitional justice, peacekeeping and peacebuilding
Albrecht, P. Making the Case for Peacekeeping as Proxy Intervention, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 20(3), 2026
Ar?, B., Abbs, L., & Nelson, P. Spoiling the Broth? The Impact of Militia Violence on Peace Negotiations, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(5), 2026
Clausen, M. L. Violent Peacemaking: The Violence Within Liberal Peacebuilding, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 20(3), 2026
Gunaydin, E., & Phillips, S. G. Hybrid Peace, Hybrid War: How Local Peacebuilders Frame the Non-Local Violence They Confront, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 20(3), 2026
Mac Ginty, R. Anticipatory Violence: The Subtle Violence in Peace Processes, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 20(3), 2026
Nabo?na, K., & Bachmann, K. Taking Stock of Syria’s Approach to Transitional Justice, International Criminal Law Review 26(2), 2026
Pino Uribe, J. F., Amaya-Panche, J., Méndez Méndez, N., & Casas Casas, A. Religiosity, Political Tolerance, and Willingness to Reconcile in Post-conflict Contexts: Evidence From Colombia, Journal of Conflict Resolution 70(2-3), 2026
Sheikh, M. K. Sacrificing the sacred? Failure and success in negotiations with Islamists, Third World Quarterly, 2026
Tholens, S. For the Peace Yet to Come: Interventions, Infrastructure and Violence in the Global Borderlands, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 20(3), 2026
Torres, F.E. Repaired but poor victims? The post-conflict encounter with transitional justice and the remaking of the field, Leiden Journal of International Law 39(1), 2026
Ujene, I. G., & Busari, D. A. Transitional justice and the reconstitution of social bonds in the rehabilitation and reintegration of Boko Haram members in Northeast Nigeria, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2026
Vázquez Guevara, V. Truth Commissions and International Law: Jurisdiction, Representation and Authority, CUP 2026
Reports
Almaweri, A. Berghof Foundation, Mapping Service Provision at the Local Level in Yemen: A case study of Taiz city, Mukalla, Seiyun, Aden and Al-Ghaydah, 2026
Jackson, A. and Mubarak, M. Empty wind: Al-Shabaab’s narratives of humanitarian aid, Centre on Armed Groups, 2026
Jackson, A. Weigand, F., Mülli, A. S., Rooney, E., Bongard, P. A fractured order: How global systemic change is reshaping armed conflict and the possibilities for engagement, Centre on Armed Groups, 2026, Discussion paper
Berghof Foundation, Environmental Entry Points for Peacemaking in Yemen, 2026
Beyond Compliance Consortium, Beyond Data Hub,
Brankovic, J., Berghof Foundation, Local transitional Justice Practices for Climate Justice: The case of Nkhulambe, Malawi, 2026
Brankovic, J., Sontag, S., Berghof Foundation, Transformative Transitional Justice and Climate Action: Nurturing Synergies for Climate Justice, 2026
Duko, S. P. Transforming Lives: Preventing and Addressing the Recruitment and Use of Children by Armed Forces and Non-State Armed Groups in South Sudan. Beyond Compliance Consortium Policy Series, 2026
Fight for Humanity, Children’s Access to Essential Services: Perspectives and Practices of Non-State Armed Groups and De Facto Authorities, June 2026
Human Rights Council, UNGA, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, May 2026
International Federation for Human Rights, Truth Hounds, and Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Russia’s war against Ukraine: thousands of foreign nationals recruiter by Russia in violation of international law, April 2026
IPIS, Annual Report 2025, 2026
Jalal, I. Checkpoint fragments and hierarchies: Competing regimes of circulation in wartime Yemen, 2015–2026. Danish Institute for International Studies Working Paper, 2026
Lndi, A. Governing routes across the contested Sahara: Checkpoints and the political economy of transSaharan trade around Kufrah, Danish Institute for International Studies Working Paper, 2026
Kanwal Sheikh, M. and Cold-Ravnkilde, S. M. (eds), DIIS, Jihadism in the Sahel, June 2026
Peng, X. Checkpoints, conflict and scam logistics: Mobile control and the politics of circulation in the China–Myanmar–Thailand borderlands, Danish Institute for International Studies Working Paper, 2026
Schouten, P. Checkpoints, not territory: rethinking conflict: When conflict is fought over roads, not territory – and what that means for policy, Danish Institute for International Studies Policy Brief, 2026
Sontag, S., and Alonsagay, R., Berghof Founation, “After the peace process, the mountains are burning”: Exploring transitional and climate justice linkages in the Bangsamoro Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, 2026
Thakur, S. Armed group taxation and trade: Smuggler perspectives from Northeast India, WIDER Working Paper 2026/92, 2026
Walther, O. (2026). Checkpoints, transport networks, and armed conflicts: towards a relational approach. Danish Institute for International Studies Working Paper Roadblocks and revenues No. 12, 2026
Zawadi Gasindikira, J, Responding to Intangible Harm in Democratic Republic of the Congo: Full(er) Protection for & with Children and Young People, Beyond Compliance Consortium Policy Series, 2026