Compliance with the Distinction Principle in asymmetric Warfares and the challenges facing it.

Asymmetric war is a term that has opened its place in military literature and international humanitarian law texts in recent decades. The most important examples of such battles are conflicts between governments and terrorist or rebel groups. The implementation of the principle of distinction in these wars is one of the most important challenges in the field of humanitarian law. On the one hand civilians are victims of hostile acts of armed groups or retaliatory actions of government forces and on the other hand some civilians are directly involved in the operations of armed groups. The purpose of this article is to answer the question how long do civilians have support in asymmetric battles and under what conditions is this support taken away from them?

This research was done by descriptive-analytical method and data collection using library sources.

The findings of this research indicate that in many cases, violating the principle of separation is a basic strategy for the weaker party in asymmetric war, and one of its effects is the blurring of the border between combatant and civilian. Therefore, the traditional combatant-civilian division does not work in asymmetric conflicts. It seems that the legal protection of civilians active in conflicts depends on the type and extent of participation in the conflict as well as the level of organization of the relevant armed group. Also, it is necessary that the military operations of the governments are carried out with a justified legal justification based on the principle of separation, so that the least damage is done to the civilians. Undoubtedly, solving the existing ambiguities and gaps requires the development of humanitarian rights with the cooperation of governments and international organizations.