Syria
546 Articles

UK Government’s Disappointing Dodge on Drones
A Royal Air Force Reaper RPAS (Remotely Piloted Air System) at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan- Wikimedia Commons [This post was first published 2:50EDT] The UK Government recently…
Untangling the Web of Actors in Syria and Additional Complexities of Classifying Armed Conflicts
As the international community struggles to find solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, several recent posts at Just Security and elsewhere have offered interpretations…
Shots Fired: A Reply to Gill and Watkin
Thanks to Terry Gill and Ken Watkin for their replies to my earlier post. To recall, the ICRC takes the view that the use of armed force by one State on the territory of another,…
Letter to the Editor: “Lines in the Sand”—A Reply to Professor Haque
I have noted with interest Professor Adil Haque’s critique of my posts (here and here) concerning the classification of armed conflicts involving non-consensual cross border…

How to Move Beyond South Africa’s Notice of Withdrawal from the ICC
International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands-Hypergio, Wiki Commons As the dust settles following South Africa’s controversial and perhaps unconstitutional announcement…
International Armed Conflict in Syria and the (Lack of) Official Immunity for War Crimes
Last week, I wrote two posts at Just Security (here and here) on one of the legal consequences that would follow if the situation in Syria is an “international armed conflict”…

Turkey’s US-Backed Operation in Syria Has Created an International Armed Conflict
Defense Secretary Ash Carter meets with Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işik during a U.N. Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting at Lancaster House in London, Sept. 8, 2016. DoD photo…
The Terminology of War and the Consequences for Executive Power
Just Security has hosted a number of interesting exchanges over the last week concerning the international and political implications of identifying the existence of an armed conflict.…
The Strategic Balance: A New US-Russian Zero Sum Game
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…

Letter to the Editor from Professor Terry Gill on Classification of International Armed Conflict
Firstly, many thanks to Professor Adil Haque for reading my piece and for his thoughtful comments on it, both favorable and less so. Let me briefly reply to some of the points…
Letter to the Editor: Not So Fast on Calling it an “Armed Conflict” Between the US and Syria
In Tuesday’s provocative entry, “Is the United States Already in an ‘International Armed Conflict’ with Syria?,” Ryan Goodman states not only that the US is engaged…
The Law of Consent-Based Interventions
In a recent Just Security post, Adil Ahmad Haque asks what legal rules constrain the use of military force by an intervening state acting without the host state’s consent. Recognizing…