Extending Positive Identification from Persons to Places: Terrorism, Armed Conflict, and the Identification of Military Objectives

In January 2013, French forces combating rebel forces in Mali attacked "Islamic targets" in northern Mali and French fighter planes "hit rebel targets in the northern cities of Gao and Kidal" Turkish forces frequently attack "rebel positions," fighting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq's Kurdistan region, and the Sri Lankan Army targeted "terroris stronghold[s]" during the conflict with the Tamil Tigers. The Israel Defense Forces contend with "rocket villages" in Hezbollah-dominated areas in southern Lebanon and with the complexities of a periodically intensifying conflict with a terroris entity governing the Gaza Strip. In Afghanistan, U.S. and multinational forces seek not only to target Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives, but also to disable and destroy the infrastructure that enables them to continue launching and threatening attacks against the Afghan government and multinational forces.