• Rules of Engagement should be lawful and will reflect the law, but they are not themselves laws.

• That does not mean they can simply be ignored if they are inconvenient though!

• Military activity is directed towards achieving a political objective. Rules of Engagement exist to limit military action for political reasons

• Whether or not the RoE refer to it, you always have the inherent right to defend yourself.

‘[Rules of Engagement] must give the commander sufficient authority to use force to enable him to achieve his mission within the political constraints. The commander must understand the political context; the politicians must understand the military context. The military commander, however, must ensure that the rules are not so rigid as to be utterly proscriptive, and to permit soldiers to utilize their initiative and judgement, with the Rules of Engagement providing them with suitable guidelines…Whatever ROEs are in operation in a theatre, the inherent right of self-defence remains.’

Philip McEvoy, ‘Law at the Operational Level’, in David Whetham (ed.), Ethics, Law and Military Operations, (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2011), p118.