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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

14 Jul

...194). Both in Libya and Syria, the repression of peaceful demonstrations led to the emergence of internal conflicts involving violent clashes between the government and several opposition groups. As explained by Redaelli, the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Libya and the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) in Syria were recognised by several states as the legitimate representatives of the people of these states. In particular, she indicates that there is a difference between recognising rebels as the legitimate representatives of their peoples and recognising them as a new government, being the...
14.07.21 | |

31 Jan

[Merlina Herbach holds an LLM in International Law from the University of Edinburgh, has worked at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and is currently a Legal Fellow with the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC).] A medical doctor practicing in Germany was discovered to have tortured his patients in Syria at the behest of the Syrian government, turning his back on that most sacred of oaths taken by all doctors, the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. The allegations against the former Syrian doctor, Alaa M., whose trial is to...
31.01.22 | |

22 Dec

Scientific American has published an article by John Wendle on how climate change has spurred the conflict in Syria. Wendle writes: Climatologists say Syria is a grim preview of what could be in store for the larger Middle East, the Mediterranean and other parts of the world. The drought, they maintain, was exacerbated by climate change. The Fertile Crescent—the birthplace of agriculture some 12,000 years ago—is drying out. Syria’s drought has destroyed crops, killed livestock and displaced as many as 1.5 million Syrian farmers. In the process, it touched off...
22.12.15 | |

27 Sep

As Ken notes below, the draft UN Security Council Resolution regarding the disposition of Syria’s chemical weapons is now available. While it can’t be construed as authorizing the use of force against Syria to ensure compliance without further Security Council action – entirely consistent with the Council’s past practice in Iraq, Kosovo, and elsewhere with slowly escalating Security Council threats and then reality of sanctions it decides to impose – marks an obvious and large step forward in what had, until a few weeks ago, been a seemingly intractable disaster....
27.09.13 | |

02 Jun

...British government is strongly considering providing weapons to rebels in Syria — and that the CIA has already facilitated weapons shipments to the rebels from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. There is no question that that much of the fighting being waged by rebel groups in Syria is perfectly lawful under international humanitarian law. But there is also no question — as the Commission of Inquiry on Syria and Human Rights Watch have richly documented — that rebel groups have also committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unless...
02.06.13 | |

10 Nov

ad bellum issue does not arise, but there still might or might not be violations of the jus in bello. Syria certainly poses a jus ad bellum issue, but there the US justification might not be preemptive self-defense, but self-defense against an armed attack that was already committed by a non-state actor operating from Syrian territory, which Syria failed to prevent. In any case it is hard to say more about these events without knowing much, much more about the actual facts. Guneysu In addition to what Milan has written,...
10.11.08 | |

31 Aug

...foreign minister’s visit is expected to defuse tensions between Iraq and Syria after Baghdad’s allegations that Damascus was harboring insurgents responsible for the recent truck bombings in Baghdad. “Iraq’s stance is to go on demanding the UN to form an international criminal court to prosecute the perpetrators of these brutal crimes against innocent Iraqis and targeted the security and stability of Iraq,” a statement from Maliki’s office quoted him as saying. Maliki reiterated Iraq’s firm stance of demanding Syria to handover senior members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party whom Baghdad...
31.08.09 | |

25 Aug

...nuclear inspectors access to a military base that they have been seeking to visit since 2005, Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan has said. More than 191,000 people have died in Syria, United Nation human rights chief Navi Pillay has said, lashing out at “international paralysis” on the nearly three-and-a-half year conflict. In her last address to the Security Council, the UN human rights chief sharply criticised the body for its ineffectiveness on Syria and other intractable conflicts, saying its members have often put national interests ahead of stopping mass atrocities....
25.08.14 | |

14 Sep

...for theology. Indeed, ‘his arguments against philosophy are themselves philosophical’ (Leaman 2002: 27). Islamic philosophy proper begins under the auspices of the ‘Abbāsid dynasty in the third/ninth century. Its origins are principally Greek, although it was transmitted largely by Christian scholars translating philosophical and other works into Arabic (with some of these from Syriac translations of Greek manuscripts). Of lesser but not insignificant impact was the rendering of Indian and Persian literature likewise into Arabic. Many Muslims did not welcome works of Peripatetic (Aristotelian and Pseudo-Aristotelian) and Neoplatonic provenance into...
14.09.06 | |

10 Sep

...sovereignty issues will be triggered. In Syria, the situation is more complicated. U.S. forces will be acting with the consent of the opposition there, though whether Assad will give his consent to operations in Syria seems unlikely. But perhaps the U.S. will rely exclusively on proxy forces in Syria. He was vague on this. There was no discussion of Security Council authorization, though he did discuss the need for a coalition to fight ISIS. My view is that ISIS represents a far greater threat than al-Qaeda ever posed. ISIS currently...
10.09.14 | |

06 Mar

...translation). The letter acknowledges that there are no longer clear boundaries between Iraq and Syria, and that IS presence in Syria poses a direct threat to Iraq. The letter expresses understanding for the American efforts against IS in Syria, while observing that the US has invoked the right of collective self-defence under Article 51 UN Charter. On the other hand, it is noted that: ‘strict conditions apply for the exercise of this right, especially when an (imminent) armed attack emanates from an armed group such as IS. What is determining...
06.03.15 | |

08 Jan

...U.S. Citizen going to Syria—with no relatives over in the Middle East... Hakeem Haseeb—was not use to Syria—and he died with my child while trying to survive over there. Trying to put propane in a Gas Tank in their apartment building. Living on $50 a month and being supported by Syrian Muslims—-and the country of Syria claims they had no formal knowledge that Hakeem and Adam Haseeb were in their Country?? Back in the year 2000—There was no War going on—so I felt the State Department and the US Embassy...
08.01.07 | |