International humanitarian law distinguishes two types of armed conflicts, namely:
· international armed conflicts, opposing two or more States, and
· non-international armed conflicts, between governmental forces and nongovernmental
armed groups, or between such groups only. IHL treaty law also
establishes a distinction between non-international armed conflicts in the meaning of
common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and non-international armed
conflicts falling within the definition provided in Art. 1 of Additional Protocol II