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I think it's a little murky given that they're not officially at war. Anti-terrorism conventions define terrorism as explicitly including unlawful killings wit

I think it's a little murky given that they're not officially at war. Anti-terrorism conventions define terrorism as explicitly including unlawful killings with the intent to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.

ars 6y ago
Terrorism always involves an attack on civilians. An attack on a military facility could be an act of war, but never terrorism.
- pcbro141 6y ago
  The scientist I'm referring to (Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was not killed as part of a legitimate strike on a military facility, he was killed in his car with his wife sitting in the seat next to him, on a road with many civilians around. I am doubtful that Iranian agents doing these same actions to scientists in the US or Israel on the street would be considered a legitimate military action and not terrorism.
  - ars 6y ago
    > The scientist I'm referring to (Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was not killed as part of a legitimate strike on a military facility, he was killed in his car with his wife sitting in the seat next to him, on a road with many civilians around. What are you talking about "facility"? The human, named Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was a military target, since he was the head of the nuclear weapons program in Iran. I'm unclear what the relevance of "many civilians around". Do you imagine military targets are always isolated with never any civilians near them? > I am doubtful that Iranian agents doing these same actions to scientists in the US or Israel on the street would be considered a legitimate military action and not terrorism. A scientist in the US or Israel working on developing a nuclear weapon would be a military target. Why does this surprise you? There's a reason you don't know the names of any scientists in the US or Israel working on nuclear weapons: They would instantly become targets. Do you imagine war is some kind of game where everyone is like "it's my turn now", and there's a referee?
    - dang 6y ago
      You have a long history of posting flamewar comments to HN. Would you please stop doing that? I've banned a whole bunch of accounts on both sides of this hellish thread, and it's dismaying to see a long-established account like yours getting in there and dragging things deeper into hell along with all the trolls. This is not what HN is supposed to be for. Surely you know that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ars 6y ago

Terrorism always involves an attack on civilians. An attack on a military facility could be an act of war, but never terrorism.

pcbro141 6y ago
The scientist I'm referring to (Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was not killed as part of a legitimate strike on a military facility, he was killed in his car with his wife sitting in the seat next to him, on a road with many civilians around. I am doubtful that Iranian agents doing these same actions to scientists in the US or Israel on the street would be considered a legitimate military action and not terrorism.
- ars 6y ago
  > The scientist I'm referring to (Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was not killed as part of a legitimate strike on a military facility, he was killed in his car with his wife sitting in the seat next to him, on a road with many civilians around. What are you talking about "facility"? The human, named Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was a military target, since he was the head of the nuclear weapons program in Iran. I'm unclear what the relevance of "many civilians around". Do you imagine military targets are always isolated with never any civilians near them? > I am doubtful that Iranian agents doing these same actions to scientists in the US or Israel on the street would be considered a legitimate military action and not terrorism. A scientist in the US or Israel working on developing a nuclear weapon would be a military target. Why does this surprise you? There's a reason you don't know the names of any scientists in the US or Israel working on nuclear weapons: They would instantly become targets. Do you imagine war is some kind of game where everyone is like "it's my turn now", and there's a referee?
  - dang 6y ago
    You have a long history of posting flamewar comments to HN. Would you please stop doing that? I've banned a whole bunch of accounts on both sides of this hellish thread, and it's dismaying to see a long-established account like yours getting in there and dragging things deeper into hell along with all the trolls. This is not what HN is supposed to be for. Surely you know that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html