NYT: Placing U.S. troops in Middle East hotels may violate laws of war

A drone attack hit a fuel tank near the Dubai International Airport amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. U.S. commanders have relocated many of their troops because bases did not have adequate defenses to protect from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones
Photo: Reuters

The U.S. military’s decision to move troops away from bases under Iranian attack to hotels and office spaces in civilian areas may amount to violations of international humanitarian law and the U.S. military’s own laws of war, human rights officials and experts say, ‘The New York Times’ quotes.

The constellation of American bases in the Persian Gulf region has been essential to the U.S. military’s execution of the air war over Iran. But commanders have relocated many of their troops because the sprawling compounds did not have adequate defenses to protect from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, U.S. defense officials said.

The move illustrates the U.S. military’s lack of preparedness for a war that the Trump administration started on its own terms, military experts said.

“This is the first war the United States is facing where we see the implications of democratized air power and the long-range persistent strikes from their adversary,” said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center. “And the lack of preparedness is not limited to this theater.”

This lethal puzzle continues to complicate U.S. war planning after thousands of airstrikes, as Iran still retains the ability to launch ballistic missiles throughout the region. This has kept American forces away from bases and dispersed among the civilian population.

“It is unconscionable that U.S. forces would knowingly put civilians at risk by leaving their bases and moving to hotels in the densely populated city centers,” said Brian Castner, a crisis researcher at Amnesty International, a human rights organization. “The commanders who ordered these relocations, not out of the conflict area but right into the heart of the civilian populations, should be investigated for violating U.S. laws of war.”

Both the Pentagon’s law of war manual and the first protocol of the Geneva Conventions outline the need to avoid placing military forces in or near civilian populations.

The U.S. Law of War Manual, which was updated in 2023, states that “military commanders and other officials responsible for the safety of the civilian population must take reasonable steps to separate the civilian population from military objectives and to protect the civilian population from the effects of combat.”

Underscoring the U.S. military’s challenges, the Pentagon solicited a contract last week for premade bunkers that could be shipped quickly to the Middle East and could “protect personnel from blast and fragmentation threats.”

Iran has urged people in the Gulf region to report on U.S. military troop locations off their bases. Iranian strikes have since killed a number of civilians in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.

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