George Headley
WASHINGTON – On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to destroy all desalination plants in Iran. Strikes on water infrastructure relied on by civilians would violate international law, legal experts say Unless a plant supplies water only to a military base, said Marko Milanovic, a professor of public international law at the University of Reading, ordering such a strike would be “manifestly unlawful.”
“Desalination plants are generally civilian objects, and as such protected from attack,” he said. “They also enjoy special protection as objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.” Destroying infrastructure needed by civilians violates Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which lists “drinking water installations and supplies” as examples of targets that are off-limits. But enforcing international laws of warfare against a U.S. president would be nearly impossible, legal scholars said.
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