... there is a strong possibility that military intervention can only make the situation in Syria worse, and can end up bringing more harm than good.
The prospects for a successful military intervention in Syria are much less promising than they were in Libya. According to the estimates of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in 2009 Syria’s military force was four times larger than Libya’s and it was much better equipped. Moreover, Syrian opposition is not unified, like it ...
... different from full scale war. Proportional means would put a constraint on the use of force, which should be minimized during humanitarian interventions.
Coupled with proportional means, a clear mandate authorized by the UN Security Council containing ... ... expect on the ground.
Recent events highlight the importance of having a clear mandate. During voting on resolution 1973 on Libya, Russia remarked that the resolution didn’t provide any clarity on how the no-fly zone would be enforced, the rules ...
... Council and UN Member States were incapable of responding to the realities on the ground.[2]
While on the other hand, we have Libya with 1,000 – 3,000 casualties and with coalition forces intervening in that country within 3 days of adopting resolution ... ....Resolution 912 (S/RES/912). 21 April 1994.
[2] U.N. Security Council. Report of the Independent Inquiry into the actions of the United Nations during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (S/1999/1257).16 December 1999.
[3] U.N. Security Council. 6498 th meeting. ...
... the UN observer mission, a GA resolution, and presidential statements to condemn the violence, but these still have not been able to halt the protracted massacre. The civilian casualty count in Syria continues to rise with each passing day.
While in Libya, military intervention occurred just two weeks after having instated non-military means through the unanimously adopted resolution 1970, which wasn’t able to end the mass violence in that time. This decisive action, in an attempt to prevent ...
... goal of “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war” professed by the international community in the United Nations Charter quite often collides with the real resources and risks that UN Member States are willing to commit to achieve ... ... the international community decides that they must intervene? Why is it that we chose the course of intervention in the case Libya, but weren’t effectively able to do so in cases like Rwanda, Bosnia and Syria? How do we guarantee that a decision ...
... Arab allay, and Moscow, of course, would like to keep it that way.
It is no secret that Moscow has problems with the notion of humanitarian interventions. It is not clear what those criteria for intervention are, and how to make sure that intervention doesn’t ... ... on their own. It is too early to draw any conclusions, but even though it seems that humanitarian intervention worked out in Libya, we still should keep in mind that Syria is a much more complex and troubled country. The intervention may shed even more ...
