text: Chapter 2
  seizure is necessary (for example, to protect a vital line of communications) or for other legitimate military
  reasons.
  Use refers to the object’s present function. For example, using an otherwise civilian building to billet
  combatant forces makes the building a military objective. Similarly, using civilian equipment and facilities
  for military purposes, such as using them as a command and control center or a communications station,
  would result in such objects becoming military objectives because they provide an effective contribution to
  the enemy’s military action.
  Purpose means the intended or possible use in the future. A decision to classify an object as a military
  objective does not depend on its present use. The potential or intended future use of an otherwise civilian
  object for military purposes may make it a military objective. For example, runways at a civilian airport could
  qualify as military objectives because they may be subject to immediate military use in the event runways at
  military air bases have been rendered unserviceable or inoperable.
  Makes an Effective Contribution to Military Action. The words “nature, location, purpose, or use”
  allow for wide discretion, but whether an object is a military objective is subject to qualifications stated later
  in the definition, that is, it “must make an effective contribution to military action” and its destruction,
  capture, or neutralization must offer a “definite military advantage.” “Effective contribution” and “military
  advantage” do not have to have a geographical connection between them. Attacks on military objectives in
  the enemy rear and diversionary attacks away from the area of military operations as such (the “contact
  zone”) are lawful.
  Military action is used in the ordinary sense of the words and is not intended to encompass a limited
  or specific military operation. Military action has a broad meaning and is understood to mean the general
  prosecution of the war. To be a military objective does not require that the attack of the object provide
  immediate tactical or operational gains or that the object make an effective contribution to a specific military
  operation. Rather, the object’s effective contribution to the war-fighting or war-sustaining capability of an
  opposing force is sufficient. Although terms such as war fighting, war supporting, and war sustaining are not
  explicitly reflected in the treaty definition of military objective, the United States has interpreted the military
  objective definition to include these concepts.
  Whose Total or Partial Destruction, Capture, or Neutralization, in the Circumstances Ruling at
  the Time, Offers a Definite Military Advantage
  In addition to the object making an effective contribution to the adversary’s military action, the attack
  of the object must also, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offer a definite military advantage for the
  object to be considered a military objective.
  Capture or Neutralization. The definition of military objective incorporates considerations beyond
  whether an object’s destruction is justified. It also incorporates considerations of whether the object’s capture
  or neutralization would offer a military advantage. “Capture” refers to the possibility that seizure during the
  attack (rather than destruction) would confer a military advantage. For example, a city may be a military
  objective and thereby captured because of its strategic location. “Neutralization” refers to a military action
  that denies an object to the enemy without capturing or destroying it. For example, a specific area of land
  may be neutralized by emplacing landmines on or around it, and thus denying it to the enemy.
  The phrase “in the circumstances ruling at the time” is essential. For example, if enemy forces have
  taken up position in a building that otherwise would be regarded as a civilian object, such as a school or retail
  store, the building has become a military objective. The circumstances ruling at the time—that is, the military
  use of the building—permits its attack. If, however, enemy military forces abandon the building, the change
  of circumstances precludes its attack if it no longer satisfies the definition of a military objective.
  Definite Military Advantage. “Definite” means a concrete and perceptible military advantage, rather
  than one that is merely hypothetical or speculative. A military commander may regard this requirement as
  met in seeking to attack, capture or neutralize objects with a common purpose in order to deny their use to
  the enemy. An example is the attack of all bridges on lines of communication the enemy is using, or may use
  as alternate lines of communication, in order to reinforce or resupply the enemy’s forces. The advantage need
  not be immediate. For example, the military advantage in the attack of an individual bridge may not be seen