The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), established in 1974 to “[m]aintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria” and … “[s]upervise the areas of separation and limitation” in the vicinity of the Golan Heights, has recently withdrawn its peacekeepers from its positions on the Syrian side of the border. They have been moved to Israeli territory.
"The situation in UNDOF on the Syrian side and the area of separation has deteriorated severely over the last several days," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric explained to reporters earlier this week. "Armed groups have made advances in the area of UNDOF positions, posing a direct threat to the safety and security of the U.N. peacekeepers.”
Mr. Dujarric was more reluctant to discuss what happened to the departing peacekeepers’ equipment, vehicles and uniforms left behind. They have reportedly ended up in the hands of some of the armed groups. This possibly includes the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, which had detained UN peacekeepers for several days before finally releasing them. The terms for negotiating their release remain murky.
Meanwhile, at a press conference earlier this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would not say whether he thought a UN Security Council was necessary before the United States could bomb ISIS bases, convoys, command and control centers, etc. in Syria without the Syrian government’s consent. He said that “it would be a little bit premature for me to say something about which on a hypothetical or which has not happened.”
When U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power was asked a similar question, she too bobbed and weaved. However, she did imply at one point that the United States believed it had a legal basis to move forward with expanded military action against ISIS if it chose to do so. “With respect to international law, the specific basis will depend on the particular facts and the particular circumstances of any military action, but we believe that we have a basis for action,” she declared. “We’re talking now about a hypothetical action that hasn’t been taken up to this point. In the event that action is taken, believe me, we will have plenty of time to engage on that,” Ambassador Power added.
Expect the possible expansion of military actions against ISIS into Syria to become a topic of intense discussion next week when President Obama will be at the United Nations in New York
Considering the fact that President Obama stated in his primetime television address on September 10th regarding ISIS that he planned to expand the U.S. air campaign against ISIS into Syria, we are not talking simply about a “hypothetical” situation. Unless, of course, Obama did not really mean what he said. Expect the possible expansion of military actions against ISIS into Syria to become a topic of intense discussion next week when President Obama will be at the United Nations in New York, along with over a hundred other heads of state and prime ministers. In addition to his annual speech to the General Assembly and participation in a climate change summit, President Obama plans to preside over a Security Council meeting on the subject of foreign terrorist fighters as they impact the conflict in Syria, Iraq, and other hot spots.
Obama need not be apologetic about the use of U.S. military power to stamp out ISIS, including in territory they have seized from the Syrian regime. They are a borderless terrorist jihadist militia that, in Ambassador Power’s words, “represents a threat to U.S. core national security interests, to U.S. personnel, to U.S. facilities, and to U.S. citizens.” A rigid interpretation of international law cannot be allowed to prevent the United States from taking whatever action it deems necessary to stamp out this threat before it metastasizes further. In any case, since ISIS has used their bases in Syrian territory to invade Iraq, the Iraqi government’s request for U.S. assistance in turning back the invaders can serve as a legal justification for conducting military actions within Syrian territory under ISIS’s control, limited to destroying those bases and eliminating the jihadists’ ability to further expand their attacks from Syria. This is the essence of “the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations,” spelled out in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The U.S. and Iraq need only notify the Security Council, but do not require its advance authorization.
If it serves the U.S. military’s purposes to give the Syrian military a heads-up in specific instances so that it will not shoot at American planes, that’s fine. But seeking the Syrian government’s consent or automatically having to notify and coordinate with the Syrian government in advance of all military actions, as the Syrian government has demanded, would be reckless, to say the least.
Nor should Iran be included in any U.S. led military coalition
Nor should Iran be included in any U.S. led military coalition, regardless of the very short-term convergence of interests in combatting ISIS. The Obama administration needs to keep its eye on the ball in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear armed power and not get lulled into making concessions in the current negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program in return for supposed Iranian cooperation in taking on ISIS.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in his commemorative address this past 9/11:
“I think it's crucial not to let the fight against Sunni extremism make us forget the danger of Shiite extremism. They are two sides of the same coin. We don't have to strengthen one to weaken the other. My policy is: Weaken both. And most importantly, don't allow any of them to get weapons of mass destruction.”
What President Obama actually does about ISIS will be far more important than the rhetoric he will utter next week at the United Nations. Nor will it matter much what the UN itself believes is necessary to do to combat the jihadist threat, considering its abandonment of positions and effective surrender of its equipment and vehicles to jihadists fighting in the Golan Heights area.
