Law Commons^™

Do The Hostilities In Syria Amount To An Armed Conflict Not Of An International Character?, Afeef T. Nessouli

Afeef T Nessouli

Applying International Humanitarian Law to Syria is important because it means that hostilities can be controlled. Two considerations have proven to be particularly important to those courts and tribunals forced to work with the uncertainty about the existence of an armed conflict not of an international character: “the intensity of the conflict and the organization of the parties to the conflict.” Several other considerations can provide useful guidance for understanding whether violence or hostilities have progressed beyond internal disturbances, like whether the non-state actor: 1) has an organized military force; 2) has an authority responsible for its actions; 3) acts …