Nonstate Actors in the International Legal Order: The Israeli-Hezbollah Conflict and the Law of Self-Defense (Report‪)‬

The concern of whether nonstate actors can undertake an "armed attack" that would trigger a state's right to self-defense has acquired new prominence in the post-September 11 world. This article addresses that concern by examining the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict of July 2006. It argues that since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, states have incurred an increased responsibility for the acts of nonstate actors that operate from their territory. Based on this emerging norm, the argument is that the degree of Lebanon's involvement in Hezbollah's attack against Israel was sufficient to justify the use of force in self-defense by Israel against both Hezbollah and the state of Lebanon. The conclusion is that while this is a potentially dangerous development in international law, there is reason to suggest that it may actually encourage states to prevent their territory from being used by nonstate actors to export violence. KEYWORDS: jus ad bellum, self-defense, nonstate actors, Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. **********