Democratic lawmaker condemns Hegseth's call for 'no quarter' for US enemies [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Democratic lawmaker condemns Hegseth’s call for ‘no quarter’ for US enemies

Defense secretary appeared to endorse killing prisoners, a violation of international law, during press briefing

Edward Helmore
Sat 14 Mar 2026 15.46 GMT
Last modified on Sat 14 Mar 2026 18.22 GMT

A top Democratic lawmaker with a military background has reacted strongly to US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s call for “no quarter” for US enemies during a Friday press briefing at the Pentagon, calling such an order – if followed by troops – a potential violation of international law.

The US senator Mark Kelly, of Arizona, posted on Friday on X that “‘No quarter’ isn’t some wanna be tough guy line – it means something. An order to give no quarter would mean to take no prisoners and kill them instead.”

Kelly added: “That would violate the law of armed conflict. It would be an illegal order. It would also put American service members at greater risk. Pete Hegseth should know better than to throw around terms like this.”

According to a transcript of the briefing, Hegseth said: “We will keep pressing, keep pushing, keep advancing – no quarter, no mercy for our enemy.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/14/democratic-lawmaker-condemns-hegseth-no-quarter