Topic summary
Military objective
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Legitimate military target.
Overview
Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions provides for the general protection of protected persons by limiting direct attacks to military objectives in a war between two or more belligerents. "With respect to the conduct of military operations, perhaps the most fundamental principle is the principle of distinction: belligerents are required to distinguish between military objectives and the [civilian] population and [civilian] objects, and to 'direct their operations only against military objectives.'"