The Syrian Intervention: Assessing the Possible International Law Justifications

• Author: Michael N. Schmitt
• Position: Stockton Professor and Chairman, International Law Department, United States Naval War College
• Pages: 744-756

International Law Studies 2013

744

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I

The Syrian Intervention:

Assessing the Possible International Law

Justifications

Michael N. Schmitt



I. INTRODUCTION

he seemingly tangential nature of international law to the debate regard-

ing strikes on Syria is both remarkable and disheartening.

1

With war clouds

looming, the Administration has yet to fully present its legal justification

for military action. Instead, President Obama has merely signaled his will-

ingness to go “forward without the approval of a United Nations Security

Council that, so far, has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold

 Stockton Professor and Chairman, International Law Department, United States

Naval War College; Professor of Public International Law, University of Exeter. The

views expressed in this article are those of the author in his personal capacity and do not

necessarily represent those of the United States government.

1

. The U.S. operations would be in response to alleged, repeated use by the Assad re-

gime of chemical weapons. On the chemical attacks, see Chairman, United Kingdom Joint

Intelligence Committee, Syria: Reporting Chemical Weapons Use, Aug. 29 , 2013,

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/23509

4/Jp_115_JD_PM_Syria_Reported_Chemical_Weapon_Use_with_annex.pdf. The most

significant event occurred on August, 21, 2013. U.S. estimates are that over 1000 people

died in that attack, whereas the British estimate is approximately 350. Contrast The White

House, Statement by the President on Syria, Aug. 31, 2 013, http://www.whitehouse.gov

/the-press-office/2013/08/31/statement-president-syria, with Joint Intelligence Organisa-

tion, Assessment on Reported Chemical Weapons Use in Damascus, Aug. 27, 2013,

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /23509

4/Jp_115_JD_PM_Syria_Reported_Chemical_Weapon_Use_with_annex.pdf.