What are ‘civilian’ sites in international law and where have US, Iran hit?

The United States and Iran are locked in an increasingly escalatory cycle of strikes that they each claim is aimed at preventing the other from securing military dominance over the Strait of Hormuz.

As the US pounds southern Iran and, in recent days, other parts of the country, Tehran too has hit back, striking US military bases in neighbouring nations in the Gulf and Jordan.

But projectiles fired by both the US and Iran have also hit civilian infrastructure, raising questions over potential violations of international law, even as the fragile memorandum of understanding (MoU) towards peace that the two countries had signed in June has collapsed.

“We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” US President Donald Trump threatened in a Fox News interview last week. He made similar threats on civilian infrastructure earlier in April.

At least 50 people have died in Iran since the resumption of hostilities, and 500 have been wounded since July 15, according to Iranian authorities. Dozens of locations in southern and northwestern Iran have been hit in the past week, ranging from military command centres to railways and airports.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hit back on neighbouring Gulf countries hosting US military assets, resulting in the deaths of at least two US military personnel.

International humanitarian law explicitly forbids the targeting of civilian infrastructure in armed conflict. The US and Israel hit several civilian sites in the first phase of the war that they launched against Iran on February 28, including a girls’ school in Minab where at least 170 people were killed.

A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that he was “particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region”, adding that “such attacks are unacceptable”.

So what counts as civilian infrastructure, and what places have been hit so far in the second wave of the US-Israel war on Iran? Here’s what we know:

What does the law say?

The 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977 forbid armed attacks or reprisals on civilian infrastructure or “objects” during a conflict.

Civilian infrastructure includes “all objects which are not military objectives”, the law says, and which are “normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house, or other dwelling or a school”.

These also include any facilities that support the day-to-day lives of civilians and that are crucial to how a society functions: roads, bridges, railways, airports, electrical plants, sewage systems, hospitals, and phone and internet systems, for example.

The treaty states that drinking water installations and supplies, irrigation works, foodstuffs, crops, livestock as well as dams, dikes, and nuclear power generation plants also cannot be targeted.

When in doubt about whether an object is serving a military or civilian purpose, parties must assume it is civilian and thus cannot attack it, the law states.

Can civilian infrastructure be targeted?

Yes, under specific and carefully determined circumstances.

Civilian infrastructure becomes a legitimate target only when it can be proven that it was “used for military purposes at the time of the attack and that its destruction provides a definite military advantage”, according to the treaty.

Even so, the law mandates that such attacks ensure that necessary attacks on civilian infrastructure remain “proportionate to the military advantage”.

In short, attacks on suspected civilian objects are prohibited if the risks to civilians – deaths, injury, and the proper functioning of civilian life – outweigh military gains.

“The basic presumption is that infrastructure is civilian and protected until such time it has become a military objective through the enemy’s use or future use,” Luke Moffett, law professor and civilian harm expert at Queen’s University Belfast, told Al Jazeera.

The US and NATO forces used this justification for past attacks on electrical or water plants in Iraq or Libya, although they caused civilian harm, the professor said.

Because there’s such a thin line between preventing the enemy from using infrastructure and impacting civilians, militaries have to constantly verify that targets provide a military advantage and that civilian harm is not excessive, he added.

“Otherwise it can be an indiscriminate attack,” Moffett said. Such indiscriminate attacks can be prosecuted as war crimes.

Where has the US hit Iran?

Iranian media and officials have reported several US strikes on civilian infrastructure as defined by the Geneva treaty, particularly in southern coastline areas close to the Strait of Hormuz. Washington claims it has exclusively targeted “including military logistics infrastructure”.

Analysts say lawyers in the US military may be clearing some targets for strikes as “dual-use”, meaning they might potentially be used for military purposes.

Road and bridge networks

• In the city of Bandar Abbas, which hosts Iran’s main naval hub and largest commercial port, a railway facility and the Kahurestan Bridge were hit. The bridge links Bandar Abbas to other cities. Multiple fatalities occurred during the strikes, with one vehicle falling off.
• In the larger Hormozgan province of which Bandar Abbas is the capital, six bridges were destroyed in Bandar Khamir county, hampering traffic to and from Bandar Abbas. They include the Gariyeh Bridge, a bridge near Latidan village, two smaller bridges on the Kahurestan-Lar road, the Marou village bridge linking Bandar Khamir with Bandar Abbas, and an uncompleted bridge along the Bandar Khamir-Keshar-Bandar Abbas axis.
• The Aq Taqeh Khan railway bridge in Golestan province, which links Iran with China and to Russia through Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, was also hit.
• Strikes hit railway networks between Tehran and Mashhad city, which is in the Razavi Khorasan district, during the burial ceremony of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Health facilities

• The Shahid Baghaei Hospital in Ahvaz was hit and rendered inoperable, causing more than 200 patients to be evacuated.

Water and food facilities

• In Musian, Dehloran county, a bottled water facility was hit. The area was previously targeted in the first phase of the war.
• The Bonji village desalination plant was hit in southern Jask, cutting off 10,000 people from water supply.
• Wheat storage facilities were reportedly hit in Hoveyzeh county and another in the Dasht-e Azadegan county, both in Khuzestan province.
• A water desalination plant was also hit in Bomani, Sirik county during low-scale skirmishes after the April ceasefire and just before the MoU was signed.

Airports and seaports

• Iranian officials reported an attack on the southern Iranshahr city’s airport that injured one person and damaged electrical facilities and a fuel tank and triggered a power outage.
• In Semnan, parts of the airport were hit and suffered minor damage.
• Iranian media also reported attacks on Tohid-Jam airport in Jam.
• Fishing and commercial piers were hit in Sirik county, resulting in multiple casualties.
• Fishing and commercial piers were also hit in Bandar Abbas.
• The Kish commercial harbour was hit in Hormozgan province.
• A fishing pier was similarly hit in Asaluyeh county, Bushehr province, causing local fishermen’s boats to catch fire.

Communication towers

• One communication tower was hit in Bandar Abbas when the communication regulations authority was targeted.
• In Qeshm Island, a communication tower was hit and damaged.

Residential areas, sewage systems and administrative buildings

• Attacks were reported in residential areas in Bandar Abbas.
• An environmental protection station was hit in Hajiabad, Hormozgan province, according to Iranian media.
• A search-and-rescue station was hit in Kish, Hormozgan province.
• A wastewater treatment plant in Bandar Abbas’s popular tourist site, the Bird Garden, was hit.

Nuclear power plants

• Strikes extensively damaged the Bushehr nuclear plant, Iran’s only operating nuclear plant, according an Al Jazeera investigation. Authorities say it’s still functional.
• The partly built Darkhovin nuclear facility in southern Khuzestan province was hit over the weekend.

Where has Iran hit?

Iran has repeatedly targeted military bases – and increasingly, civilian infrastructure – in Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and Qatar. The IRGC insists it is targeting US military assets.

• Kuwait: Officials said Iranian attacks hit a power and water desalination plant repeatedly, resulting in large fires and destabilising the main grid. An oil facility was also hit.
• Qatar: Officials said a child was injured from falling debris in Doha after interceptors attempted to ward off Iranian missiles. It’s unclear if civilian infrastructure or residential areas were explicitly targeted.
• Strait of Hormuz: Several commercial tankers and vessels have been hit in the Strait of Hormuz, off Oman’s coast, for using routes Iran did not authorise.