The Western-led Military Operations in Syria in Response to the Use of Chemical Weapons: A Critical Assesment of the Claim for New Exceptions to the Prohibition on the Use of Force

Stemming from the events briefly summarised above and further discussed below, this article aims at investigating whether the Western military operations against Syria, and mainly the 2018 airstrikes, are consistent with current international law rules and if, and to what extent, these precedents are contributing to the shaping of new exceptions to the traditional prohibition on the use of force in international relations. To this end, a detailed reconstruction of the events involving the use of chemical weapons in Syria and of the military operations themselves will precede the analysis of the divergent arguments used by those who carried out and supported the airstrikes, and by those condemning them. These conflicting positions will be then critically examined though the lens of the international legal framework currently in force. In the concluding section, a few proposals are presented outlining the options for better harmonizing the legitimacy and legality aspects, and for reinforcing the credibility of the international rules in extraordinary situations such as those in Syria.