text: General Background and Basic Principles of the Law of Armed Conflict
  Cases of Doubt With Respect to POW Status
  1-64. During an international armed conflict, should there be any doubt as to whether persons suspected of
  committing a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy are entitled to POW status, such
  persons shall be treated as POWs pending the determination of their status by a competent tribunal
  (GPW art. 5).
  Types of Unprivileged Belligerents
  1-65. As set forth in the following paragraphs (1-65 through 1-71), unprivileged belligerents assume the
  liabilities of both combatant and civilian status. They may generally be classified into two categories:
  * Persons who initially qualify as combatants, but who forfeit those privileges by engaging in
  spying, sabotage, and other secretive, hostile acts behind enemy lines.
  * Persons who never qualified as combatants but who, by engaging in hostilities (such as joining an
  armed group), have forfeited one or more of the protections of civilian status.
  1-66. Persons engaging in spying, sabotage, and other secretive, hostile acts behind enemy lines are persons
  who may have initially qualified as combatants (that is, by falling into one of the three categories in paragraph
  1-50) but who have acted so as to forfeit the privileges of combatant status by engaging in spying or sabotage
  while acting clandestinely or on false pretenses (HR art. 29). Private persons engaging in acts of hostility are
  persons who never qualified as combatants, but who, by engaging in hostilities, have forfeited some of the
  protections of civilian status (see sections 1-85 through 1-92 below for further discussion of when engaged
  in hostilities may result in an individual being liable for treatment in one or more respects and as an
  unprivileged belligerent). For example, persons who join armed groups that fail to qualify as combatants are
  not entitled to the privileges of combatant status, but have incurred the corresponding liabilities of combatant
  status by virtue of their membership in such groups.
  1-67. These two classes of unprivileged belligerents generally receive the same treatment. However, a legal
  distinction between them—State authorization—may be important. For example, combatants who spy regain
  their entitlement to the privileges of combatant status upon returning to friendly lines, but the private
  individuals who spy cannot regain a status to which they were never entitled.
  Rights, Duties, and Liabilities of Unprivileged Belligerents
  1-68. Unprivileged belligerents have certain rights, duties, and liabilities. In general, unprivileged
  belligerents lack the distinct privileges afforded to lawful combatants and civilians, and receive the liabilities
  of both classes. Unprivileged belligerents may be made the object of attack by enemy combatants. They,
  however, must be afforded fundamental guarantees of humane treatment if hors de combat. Unprivileged
  belligerents may be punished by enemy States for their engagement in hostilities if they are convicted after
  a fair trial.
  Treatment of Unprivileged Belligerents
  1-69. Although unprivileged belligerents have not been recognized and protected in treaty law to the same
  extent as civilians and lawful combatants, basic guarantees of humane treatment protect even unprivileged
  belligerents (Common Article 3; consider AP I art. 75; consider AP II art. 4-6). Moreover, some treaty
  protections apply to certain unprivileged belligerents (see, for example, Common Article 3; GC art. 5). In
  some cases, U.S. practice has, as a matter of domestic law or policy, afforded unprivileged belligerents more
  favorable treatment than they would be entitled to receive under international law (see paragraph 5-3).
  Nonetheless, U.S. practice has also recognized that unprivileged belligerents should not be afforded the
  distinct privileges afforded lawful combatants, nor should they receive all of the protections afforded civilians
  under LOAC.
  Unprivileged Belligerents and the Conduct of Hostilities
  1-70. Although unprivileged belligerents lack the right to engage in hostilities, they must observe the same
  duties as lawful combatants during their conduct of hostilities. In addition, unprivileged belligerents are
  subject to the same liabilities that combatants have in the conduct of hostilities—that is, they may be made