Syri A Legitimate Intervention? Essay

Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant

65). Syrian’s that are stuck in refugee camps or still living in Syria are fighting for the freedom from authority that they did not agree to, the war has killed over 220,000 people and displaced half of the country’s population (GIlsinan, 2015). The states thus far have responded to the many facets of this crisis with very realist approaches via military action. Realists will tend to prioritize power and place it above and separate from morality and ideology, basing their arguments on tradition and focusing on the power to be gained or lost in the situation (Goldstien, 56). Are force and fraud the most reasonable types of action (Suth, Elias 2007), where is the morality; “More than a third of Americans want to ban Muslims from entering the United states” (Hayoun 2015, The independent). It appears that realism is winning the war against idealism in the US - realism is pessimistic and cynical towards life and human nature, thus there is no hope for a good end of human kind (Najob, Hamed, Gandomikal 2015). One possible motivation of the American people to adopt this very pessimistic and realist way of looking at the crisis and the Muslim population as a whole, is they might assume that liberalist approaches, with its theories in moral reasoning, may

In this paper, I will argue that the United States should accept more Syrian refugees by analyzing Miller and Kukathas’ arguments to reach the conclusion that Kukathas makes a more convincing argument because the freedom of movement argument and the humanity obligations of the United States outweigh the risks of a threatened cultural identity and economic state. The Syrian refugee crisis started in March of 2011 when anti-government groups began to protest against the government. These protests quickly became violent as the government turned to armed opposition groups to quiet the rebellion. This violence has created chaos in Syria as human rights are being violated everywhere and necessities are becoming scarce. There is no sign of an end approaching as the death toll reaches over 250,000. Syrians are escaping after seeing the destruction around their homes from airstrikes and bombings, killing many friends and family members. The U.N. estimates, a potential 11 million people are displaced, fleeing to nearby countries with refugee camps or Europe in hopes to gain citizenship. The journey to escape Syria is not an easy one with the threat of snipers and kidnappings for young men to fight for either cause. The need for aid continues to grow as humanitarian organizations attempt to keep up.

Syria’s civil war has overflows of violence all around the world. Groups like ISIS who feel as if the west has caused the plight of the Arabs or Muslims will attempt to retaliate against the west, curbing that overflow by funding NGO’s, United Nations agencies, and other programs that are assisting in putting an

As of recent, there is an ongoing debate over the response of the Obama administration related to the events occurring in Syria and the potential violation by the Syrian government of customary international law and relevant treaties and conventions in the use of chemical weapons against its own people. The conflict itself has history which is required to be thoroughly examined before conclusions can be placed and actions are to be carried out. The Syrian Civil War has not only affected the lives of Syria’s citizens but has becoming a pressing issue in direct international relations between countries like Russia and the United States. Obama’s administration has their own response to the crisis at hand and believes that a military strike is a fully legal move to make given the situation present at hand. According to the evidence, it would seem possible that a violation has not occurred and that the threat by Obama’s administration to use force in the Syrian crisis stands on illegitimate grounds because the proceedings are done by Syrian government on their own grounds. However the atrocious actions committed by the Assad regime could in fact provide legality to military intervention by the United States. Finally, the focus will be to determine whether chemical weapons are in fact the sole factor for international intervention.

The Syrian situation has been viewed using the just war theory lens by different scholars who have offered contrasting analysis. In what started as pro-democracy protests following the Arab spring uprisings in 2011, the ensuing unrest escalated to a civil war between government forces and rebel forces with the UN reporting that 90000 had been killed as of June 2013 and 250000 as of 2015 (Rodgers, 2016). The question raised is whether the intended United States military intervention is justified or not from a just war theory perspective. According to William Galston, a senior fellow at Brookings institution, the enormity of the massacre in Syria justifies an external intervention failure to which he thinks the war will continue indefinitely. Based on the principle of just war, Galston observes that the proposed intervention would be protecting further killings of innocent human life pointing out it might be the last resort (Shimron, 2013). Another scholar, Rabbi Broyde, a professor of law, concurs with Galston’s observations that an

In the United Nations Security Council, aiding the Syrian rebels in fighting the oppressing Assad Regime, or fighting the terrorist organization ISIS could put an end to the violence, but it could also make the situation much worse. In Syria it is very tempting to immediately propose foreign military intervention when its government commits human rights violations against its own people, and when a terrorist organization makes about 3 million dollars a day off of gas and oil resources; but we must take a step back and realize that foreign military involvement isn’t always effective, and should only be used as a last resort when the diplomatic solutions fail, or when problems pose an international

Since 2011, the lives of those living in Syria have been flipped upside down. The Syrian people have been forced to endure the infringement of human rights by their own government, which is trying to punish and defeat rebels who are protesting against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Security forces killed some protesters in an attempt to strike fear in them and end the protesting. However, the Syrian people only became more infuriated and would not silence themselves. Shortly after, the war broke out between the government and rebels. This war continues to this day, and in 2014, a new problem arose - the introduction of terrorists into the country. Both the civil war and the presence of ISIS has made the violation of human rights within Syria a daily occurrence. The government’s vicious and ruthless mindset has caused them to break rights declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically articles three, four, and thirteen.

There are three main political actors involved, Syria, America, and the European Union. Syria is driven out of their country because of war and insufficient living standards, resulting in thousands of refugees. Syria needs America and the European Union to open up and allow them to reestablish themselves within their countries. Syria’s biggest value would be their security and basic needs in order to survive. America’s main value would be the security of its people, since recent tragedies this may be a rising concern to the European Union also. Although, the European Union’s biggest value would be its carrying capacity.

Balancing humanitarian concerns with U.S national interests is essential in determining a strategy for the refugee crisis in Syria. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are approximately 2.5 million refugees, more than half of which are children. Not only do such atrocities conflict with the moral fiber of democracy, but also present serious risks to the economic well-being and security of the United States. Current research as well as historical reference illustrate that U.S foreign policy being implemented in the region is ineffective and at times counter-productive. If issues regarding the refugee crisis are not dealt with promptly, the potential for Syrian cooperation is greatly decreased, and the likelihood of civil war expanding to neighboring countries is significantly greater. Based on expert opinion, the following recommendations should be taken into consideration:

The “just cause criterion is central in the “just war” doctrine. When assessing the sufficient “just cause” reasons the principle of self-defence is undoubtedly tolerable. It can be extended to the reason of assisting aid to victims of oppression or external threat (Moseley n.d.). Following this principle, the mass murder of the Syrian civilians by the government forces that reached nearly 40000 (Aloyo 2014) create a justified cause for the USA and the international community in general. However, in the case of Syria using forces against the aggression as a whole will be an impossible task, as both parties

Military action in Libya was sanctioned by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which allows for such intervention in the case of a threat to international peace and security which they have interpreted as including grave threats to civilians. The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this context, we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case by case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate.

Excluding the first options, second and third option present a posibility in implementation. The second method ‘military intervention, cooperation with Kurdist and providing aid for Syrian refugee’ mentions UN Security Council, NATO and regional or Middle East countries should intervene in Syria by military tool that relevant to the permission of use of force. According article 2 (1) in chapter I: purposes and principles of UN charter, The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. That means UN members must respect sovereignty of each other. In this case, ISIS is on Syrian territory. As in the article 2 (1) chapter I of UN charter, the intervention in Syria can be

The extent to which human rights abuses have been occurring has alarmed the international community and has prompted condemnation from international organisations such as the UN and NATO. In spite of this condemnation however, little ground has actually been made in reducing human rights abuses in Syria and upholding the security of its people. What little action that has occurred includes Syria being convinced largely of the back of pressure from the US and Russia to adopt ratify the UN treat against chemical weapons which it did so in September 2013 The improvements made in Syria are minute though because rights breaches continue to occur in ways which hugely threaten human security. Approximately 9 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes in the wake of the civil war which has seen the government bomb towns where rebels were supposedly hiding out. The current situation in Syria has resulted in decreased security for its people which, in turn,

As of today, in Iraq, ISIS is committing acts of genocide through rape, murder, and persecution of their victims and requires the United Nations military intervention to put this genocide to an end. As Political activists, like Amal Cloony, pled to the United Nations that “ISIS is today’s most brutal [terrorist] group in the world” (Cloony, par. 5), representing an “unprecedented threat” to international peace and security.