Overview
- At a March 13 Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “We will keep pushing, keep advancing. No quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”
- International Crisis Group adviser Brian Finucane wrote in MS NOW that declaring “no quarter” is itself prohibited, citing the Department of Defense Law of War Manual.
- The ban on denying quarter dates to the 1863 Lieber Code and was incorporated into the 1907 Hague regulations and customary international law across air, land, and sea operations.
- The U.S. War Crimes Act and post‑World War II tribunal precedent, including the High Command Case, treat denial of quarter as a war crime that can create individual liability even without implementation.
- The analysis urges Hegseth to publicly recant the remark and calls on political leaders to reaffirm that U.S. forces must accept lawful surrender and that violations will be prosecuted.