Nope, that’s not generally how the laws of war work.
I say “work” but because there’s no international police force to arrest anyone for breaking it, this is more like philosophical theorising, but that’s how it’s conceived of, still.
To take the social contract analogy, if someone steals your phone, you generally have the legal right to use reasonable force to get it back, and if the thief gets hurt, tough shit. But if you track him to his house, burn it down and sodomise him, you’re a psycho and going to jail.
Domestic law recognises exceptions for actions that are otherwise illegal to try and rectify another cringe; prosecuting a war in self defence is similarly an exception to the general prohibition on war, but “reasonable force” is analogous to “proportionality” - you don’t get the right to carpet bomb Dubai because you got missiled by the USA.
Nope, that’s not generally how the laws of war work.
I say “work” but because there’s no international police force to arrest anyone for breaking it, this is more like philosophical theorising, but that’s how it’s conceived of, still.
To take the social contract analogy, if someone steals your phone, you generally have the legal right to use reasonable force to get it back, and if the thief gets hurt, tough shit. But if you track him to his house, burn it down and sodomise him, you’re a psycho and going to jail.
Domestic law recognises exceptions for actions that are otherwise illegal to try and rectify another cringe; prosecuting a war in self defence is similarly an exception to the general prohibition on war, but “reasonable force” is analogous to “proportionality” - you don’t get the right to carpet bomb Dubai because you got missiled by the USA.