On December 8, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), augmented by other rebel forces, successfully overthrew the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad following more than five decades of rule by his family. As Assad’s regime fell, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a bombing campaign involving hundreds of air strikes in Syria against missiles, air defense systems, weapon production facilities that included those suspected of producing chemical weapons, and other military targets. Israel also destroyed the Syrian Navy in port. Israel has been periodically attacking Hezbollah, Iranian, and regime military assets for a period measured in years, but this time, it devastated Syria’s military capabilities. In explanation, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he had “approved the air force bombing of strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian military so that they will not fall into the hands of the jihadists.” Additionally, the day before Damascus fell, armed groups targeted UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) peacekeepers, temporarily taking control of several of their outposts. They were…
Pre-emptive Self Defence
Page 1 of 4
When did the Armed Attack against Ukraine become ‘Imminent’?
When did Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine begin? And, before it began, when did it become imminent, as that term is commonly understood in the international law on the use of force? In this post I will offer some thoughts on these two questions, not because they are directly relevant to the situation in Ukraine – they are…
What is Russia’s Legal Justification for Using Force against Ukraine?
With missile and aerial strikes across Ukrainian territory and Russian ground forces entering Ukraine from multiple directions, there is now no doubt that the Russian Federation has used ‘force’ in the sense of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter against Ukraine, and has done so on a large scale. The burden is now on Russia to attempt to…
Mistake of Fact in Putative Self-Defence Against Cyber Attacks
I am glad that Marko has taken on the task of tackling the issue of mistakes of fact in international law, as I completely agree that it is a very important yet so far largely overlooked aspect, surprisingly so. While I’d mostly approve of Marko’s deliberations and conclusions, I wanted to add a brief point that I…
Mistakes of Fact When Using Lethal Force in International Law: Part III
To briefly recapitulate our examination of mistake of fact when using lethal force in various sub-fields of international law: such a doctrine is, in its purely subjective form, black letter law in international criminal law. It is also established (even if not labelled as such) in international human rights law and (somewhat less clearly) in international humanitarian…
- Page 1 of 4
- Last