[So, unless Obama is willing to admit that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey (among others) are the sponsors of ISIS, he cannot invoke UN Article 51, under the “self-defense” clause.]
Article 51
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”
US, Turkey reportedly close to agreement on joint mission against ISIS
The U.S. and Turkey are close to an agreement on a joint military action against the Islamic State militant group in northern Syria, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal, citing officials from both countries, reported that the proposed deal would allow the U.S. and its coalition partners access to Turkish air bases to use as launch points for air strikes. The agreement would also provide for a protected zone along part of the Syria-Turkey border that would be off limits to Syrian government aircraft and provide protection for moderate Syrian rebels and refugees fleeing the country’s bloody, three-year-long civil war.
Turkey has already agreed to allow 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels to be trained on its own soil, and has sent members of its special forces to northern Iraq to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
The Journal reported that Turkey had proposed a far more extensive no-fly zone over northern Syria, only to be rebuffed by the Obama administration, which said that the proposal would constitute an act of war by the U.S. against the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad.
U.S. officials told the paper that talks between the two nations were still in a preliminary stage, and a final deal may not be agreed upon for weeks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Vice President Joe Biden in Turkey last week for discussions about the civil war in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State, better known as ISIS. The Al Qaeda-inspired terror group’s months-long offensive in northern Syria has helped push between 1.5 million and 1.8 million refugees into Turkey, with millions more arrivals possible.
NATO officials told the Journal that Turkey could justify opening its bases to coalition jets under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which provides a right to collective self-defense. Technically, the ongoing strikes in Syria are being carried out in support of operations in Iraq based on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ’s Article 51 letter invoking collective self-defense.–[editor–SEE following citation]
“Absent a legally cognizable connection to a state, the non-state actor that threatens or actually undertook the attack lacks the legal characteristics in international law even to launch an “armed attack” within its legal meaning. All of this is irrespective of the extent of the actual attack or its real-world consequences. (Cf. 9/11.)”–LAWFARE.BLOG
[editor–in this context, Obama’s/NATO’s contention that he can justify attacks on ISIS within Syria, without Syria’s permission, ONLY if ISIS is officially backed by a STATE SPONSOR, and that Sponsor MUST BE IDENTIFIED. So, unless Obama is willing to admit that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey (among others) are the sponsors of ISIS, he cannot invoke UN Article 51, under the “self-defense” clause. If this principle of international law is upheld, then Obama has already committed multiple “acts of war…against the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad.]
News of the progress in talks between the U.S. and Turkey comes after Syrian activists said the U.S.-led coalition targeted ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa in northeastern Syria with as many as 30 airstrikes Sunday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted the Division 17 air base, which the ISIS seized earlier this year from Iraqi government forces.
The U.S. military did not confirm the airstrikes to the Associated Press.
The monitoring group, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, reported at least 30 coalition strikes in all. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, also confirmed the airstrikes. Neither group had casualty figures.
