INTRODUCTION

POLITICAL SITUATION OF SYRIA

On early March of 2011 of Syria, there is a Syrian Civil War also known as Syrian Uprising or
Syrian Revolution against the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assads government. Protesters demanded
an end to the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime, in place since Assads father, afiz al-Assad,
became president in 1971. The Syrian government used violence to suppress demonstrations, making
extensive use of police, military, and paramilitary forces. Amateur footage and eyewitness accounts,
the primary sources of information in a country largely closed to foreign journalists, showed the Syrian
security forces beating and killing protesters and firing indiscriminately into crowds. Opposition
militias began to form in 2011, and by 2012 the conflict had expanded into a full-fledged civil war.
1

The conflict between the government and the protesters gradually changed from popular protests to an
armed rebellion after months of military sieges.

In 2013, Lebanons Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian army. The Hezbollah
members are fighting in Syria against Islamic extremists who pose a danger to Lebanon.
2
In the east,
the Islamic State of Levant (ISIL), a jihadist militant group originating from the Iraq War, made rapid
military gains in both Syria and Iraq. They eventually went on fighting with the other rebel groups. In

1
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1781371/Syrian-Civil-War
2
http://news.yahoo.com/hezbollah-chief-says-group-fighting-syria-162721809.html
July 2014, ISIL controlled a third of Syria's territory and most of its oil and gas production, thus
establishing itself as the major opposition force in the Syrian Civil War.
3


POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN IRAQ


The tables turned since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, most Sunnis (one of the two main
branches of Islam, commonly described as orthodox, and differing from Shia in its understanding of
the Sunna and in its acceptance of the first three caliphs) continue to feel that they are bearing the
brunt of Iraqi Shiite (an adherent of the Shia branch of Islam) anger towards the former Sunni-led
regime. Tens of thousands of Sunnis lost their jobs as a result of de-Baathification measures which
were carried out indiscriminately. While Shiites were actively being recruited and employed by the
new security apparatus, Sunnis were either not hired or threatened out of joining by insurgents, a fact
that has been especially glaring considering that Sunnis comprised the highest ranking members of
Iraqs former security forces. Discrimination against Sunnis under the guise of anti-Baathification
measures was manifested most prominently at the political level when more than 400 candidates60
percent of whom were Sunniwere banned from participating in the 2010 election. Members of the
Sunni Sahwa Movement, many of whom were provided arms by the US, have been detained for illegal
possession of weapons.
In the worst cases, communities have faced large-scale detentions and targeted killing by Shiite death
squads, or have been targeted in reprisal attacks for violence committed by al-Qaeda against Shiites.
One of the bloodiest waves of reprisal killings against Sunnis occurred following the bombing of the
Shiite al-Askari Mosque in 2006. In a matter of days after the attack, which was supposedly carried

3
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n16/patrick-cockburn/isis-consolidates
out by al-Qaeda, more than 1,000 Sunnis were killed in anti-Sunni rampages across the country, in
addition to a string of kidnappings and mosque burnings.
Such discrimination has added a new dimension to the debate over federalism in Iraq. While Sunnis
have traditionally opposed the establishment of new federal entities since doing so would leave them
isolated in the resource-poor regions they inhabit, the debate has taken a new turn as their disillusion
with the status-quo in Iraq grows and the hope that the Shiite-led political apparatus will solve the
problems of all the nations sectarian components grows dimmer. This is especially surprising
considering that Sunnis had vehemently opposed the Constitutional stipulations that enshrined the
potential establishment of separate entities.


Legislation supported by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq in 2005 and 2006 to allow for
the potential establishment of a semi-autonomous Shiite region in southern Iraq was opposed by both
secular and religious Sunnis, along with the Shiite Islamist Sadrists. In 2008, the Accord Front
publically stated that adoption of any federalist system would only lead to more division and violence
amongst different Iraqi sectarian groups.
45







4
http://www.islamopediaonline.org/country-profile/iraq/islam-and-major-political-movements/discrimination-
against-sunnis-and-question-
5
http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/al-qaeda-organization-land-two-rivers-aqi
HISTORY OF ISIS

The Jama'at al-tawhid wa'al-jihad or more commonly known as The Organization of
Monotheism and Jihad (JTJ) was formed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999 against the presence of
United States and Western military forces in the Islamic area and the Western support given to Israel.
On October 2004, al-Zarqawi pledged loyalty to Osama Bin Laden which led to the groups change of
name to Tanzim qa'idat al-jihad in bilad al-rafidayn. Although not self-proclaimed, it has been known
as the Al-Qaeda of Iraq naming al-Zarqawi as its al-Qaida title as Emir of al-Qaida in the Country of
Two Rivers. The journey of Tanzim qa'idat al-jihad in bilad al-rafidayn flourished as Operation Iraqi
Freedom against U.S. and Coalition Forces which attracted other insurgent Iraqi group which formed
Mujahideem Shura Council on January 2006.

Three months after the death of al-Zarqawi in June 2006, Mujahideem Shura Council more
insurgent fractions joined the group changing its name to Dawlat al-Iraq al-Islmyah or Islamic State
of Iraq (ISI). A cabinet was formed proclaiming a figurehead emir and emir which were both killed in
April 2010 making Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the current leader of ISI. On April 2013, ISI released a
message from its leader announcing that Syria jihadi group, Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) has been an extension
of ISI in Syria. The message contained affirmation of financial support of ISI to JN and declared their
separate group names as invalid for it be has been known as merged Islamic State of Iraq and Al-
Sham. Al-Sham meant Levant or Greater Syria making it more popular in the name of Islamic
State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). While on August 2014,
leading Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah in Egypt advised Muslims to stop calling the group
Islamic State because of its un-Islamic character. Instead, it should be called Al-Qaeda Separatists
in Iraq and Syria or OSIS.
5 6 7 8 9


ISIS IDEOLOGY

The ideological roots of ISIS upon the pledge of JTJ to Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda leader of
Iraq which embraces a Salafi-jihadi ideology or Salafist ideology.
10
This ideology primarily highlights the return of Islam to its authentic beliefs and practices of al-salaf
al-salih or pious ancestors compromised of Prophet Muhammad. ISIS believes that establishment of an
Islamic State constitutes the means by which their beliefs and practices are applied.

Secondarily, Salafist ideology grasps the concept of tawhid or oneness or unity in God. It is
divided into three categories, (1) tawhid al-rububiyah or oneness of Lordship, (2) tawhid al-uluhiyah or
oneness of Godship and (3) tawhid al-asma wal-sifat or oneness of the names and attributes of God.
First category entails that God is the only creator and attribution to other God constitutes unbelief in
the ideology. Second category involves that God is the only object of worship of other God forms

6
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/zarqawi.htm
7
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/who-are-isis-the-rise-of-the-islamic-state-in-iraq-and-the-
levant-9541421.html
8
http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/islamic-state-iraq-islamic-state-iraq-and-sham-isis
9
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/isis-a-short-history/376030/

10
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-isis-chronicles-history-10895
unbelief in the ideology. Third category implies that Gods depiction is literally limited only to that
presented in the revelation.
11


In relation to the third category, followers of Sadafist ideology are literalist in reading the text
of their Koran and Sunnah with regards to the customs and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and
they uphold the ridding of Islam of all bida or reprehensible or illegitimate innovations in belief and
practice.

ISIS ideology enforces their vision of Islam in belief and manifest action and those not
following their beliefs are considered blasphemous. Although some of Iraq condemns such practice of
ISIS for it is blood-spattering actions that inflicted heavy damages on both Sunnis and Shia
irrespective of Iraqs communal and political situation.
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ISIS PHILOSOPHY

The philosophy of the terrorist group is on quite based on traditional ideas of force and
warfare, they aim to seize and hold territory in Iraq and Syria, stated a senior international security
analyst working on the Syrian crisis via news.vice.com. Accordingly, the acts such as beheading of the

11
http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/09/muhammad-isis-iraqs-full-story.html
12
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html

ISIS were internal in nature such of religious sacrifice. The only external in nature were those political
propaganda purposes.
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TIMELINE OF EVENTS

A chronology of key events:
1534 - 1918 - Region is part of the Ottoman Empire.
1534-1918 - Ottoman rule.
1917 - Britain seizes control, creates state of Iraq.
1932 - Independence, followed by coups.
1979 - Saddam Hussein becomes president.
1980-1988 - Iran-Iraq war.
1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, putting it on a collision course with the international community.
1991 - Iraq subjected to sanctions, weapons inspections and no-fly zones.
2003 - US-led coalition invades, starting years of guerrilla warfare and instability.
1914 - 1918 - World War I.
1917 - Britain seizes Baghdad.
1920 - Britain creates state of Iraq with League of Nations approval.
1920 - Great Iraqi Revolution - rebellion against British rule.
1921 - Faysal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, is crowned Iraq's first king.
1932 - Iraq becomes an independent state.
1939-1945 - World War II. Britain re-occupies Iraq.

13
https://news.vice.com/article/australias-foiling-of-an-alleged-islamic-state-beheading-plot-raises-questions

1958 - The monarchy is overthrown in a military coup led by Brig Abd-al-Karim Qasim and Col Abd-
al-Salam Muhammad Arif. Iraq is declared a republic.
1963 - Prime Minister Qasim is ousted in a coup led by the Arab Socialist Baath Party (ASBP). Arif
becomes president.
1963 - The Baathist government is overthrown by Arif and a group of officers.
1966 - After Arif is killed in a helicopter crash on 13 April, his elder brother, Maj-Gen Abd-al-Rahman
Muhammad Arif, succeeds him as president.
1968 - A Baathist led-coup ousts Arif. Revolution Command Council (RCC) takes charge with Gen
Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr as chairman and country's president.

Petroleum firm nationalised

1972 - Iraq nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).
1974 - Iraq grants limited autonomy to Kurdish region.
1979 - Saddam Hussein succeeds Al-Bakr as president.
1980 - The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for an attack on Deputy Prime Minister,
Tariq Aziz, at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.

Iran-Iraq war

1980-1988 - Iran-Iraq war.
1981 June - Israel attacks an Iraqi nuclear research centre at Tuwaythah near Baghdad.



Chemical attack on Kurds

1988 March - Iraq attacks Kurdish town of Halabjah with poison gas, killing thousands.
1990 March - Farzad Bazoft, an Iranian-born journalist with London's Observer newspaper, accused of
spying on a military installation, is hanged in Baghdad.

Iraq invades Kuwait

1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, prompting what becomes known as the first Gulf War. A massive US-led
military campaign forces Iraq to withdraw in February 1991.
1991 April - Iraq subjected to weapons inspection programme.

Rebellion

1991 Mid-March/early April - Southern Shia and northern Kurdish populations - encouraged by Iraq's
defeat in Kuwait - rebel, prompting a brutal crackdown.
1991 April - UN-approved safe-haven established in northern Iraq to protect the Kurds. Iraq ordered to
end all military activity in the area.
1992 August - A no-fly zone, which Iraqi planes are not allowed to enter, is set up in southern Iraq,
south of latitude 32 degrees north.
1993 June - US forces launch a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in
retaliation for the attempted assassination of US President George Bush in Kuwait in April.



Oil-for-food

1995 April - UNSC Resolution 986 allows the partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports to buy food and
medicine (the "oil-for-food programme").
1995 October - Saddam Hussein wins a referendum allowing him to remain president for another seven
years.
1996 August - After call for aid from KDP, Iraqi forces launch offensive into northern no-fly zone and
capture Irbil.
1996 September - US extends northern limit of southern no-fly zone to latitude 33 degrees north, just
south of Baghdad.
1998 October - Iraq ends cooperation with UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of
Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (Unscom).

Operation Desert Fox

1998 December - After UN staff are evacuated from Baghdad, the US and UK launch a bombing
campaign, "Operation Desert Fox", to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
programmes.
1999 February - Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, spiritual leader of the Shia
community, is assassinated in Najaf.
1999 December - UNSC Resolution 1284 creates the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (Unmovic) to replace Unscom. Iraq rejects the resolution.
2001 February - Britain, US carry out bombing raids to try to disable Iraq's air defence network. The
bombings have little international support.

Weapons inspectors return

2002 September - US President George W Bush tells sceptical world leaders at a UN General to
confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq - or stand aside as the US acts. In the same month
British Prime Minister Tony Blair publishes a ''dodgy'' dossier on Iraq's military capability.
2002 November - UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq backed by a UN resolution which threatens
serious consequences if Iraq is in "material breach" of its terms.
2003 March - Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reports that Iraq has accelerated its cooperation but
says inspectors need more time to verify Iraq's compliance.

Saddam ousted

2003 March - UK's ambassador to the UN says the diplomatic process on Iraq has ended; arms
inspectors evacuate; US President George W Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to
leave Iraq or face war.
2003 March - US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein's government, marks start of years of violent
conflict with different groups competing for power.
2003 July - US-appointed Governing Council meets for first time. Commander of US forces says his
troops face low-intensity guerrilla-style war.
Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul.

Insurgency intensifies
2003 August - Suicide truck bomb wrecks UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing UN envoy Sergio
Vieira de Mello.
Car bomb in Najaf kills 125 including Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.
2003 14 December - Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit.
2004 March - Suicide bombers attack Shia festival-goers in Karbala and Baghdad, killing 140 people.
2004 April-May - Shia militias loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr take on coalition forces.
Hundreds are reported killed in fighting during the month-long US military siege of the Sunni Muslim
city of Falluja.
Photographic evidence emerges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops.

Sovereignty and elections

2004 June - US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
2004 August - Fighting in Najaf between US forces and Shia militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.
2004 November - Major US-led offensive against insurgents in Falluja.
2005 30 January - Some 8 million vote in elections for a Transitional National Assembly. 2005 28
February - At least 114 people are killed by a car bomb in Hilla, south of Baghdad, in the worst single
such incident since the US-led invasion.
2005 April - Amid escalating violence, parliament selects Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president.
Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, is named as prime minister.
2005 May onwards - Surge in car bombings, bomb explosions and shootings: Iraqi ministries put the
civilian death toll for May at 672, up from 364 in April.
2005 June - Massoud Barzani is sworn in as regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan.
2005 August - Draft constitution is endorsed by Shia and Kurdish negotiators, but not by Sunni
representatives.
2005 October - Voters approve a new constitution, which aims to create an Islamic federal democracy.
2005 December - Iraqis vote for the first, full-term government and parliament since the US-led
invasion.

Sectarian violence

2006 February onwards - A bomb attack on an important Shia shrine in Samarra unleashes a wave of
sectarian violence in which hundreds of people are killed.
2006 22 April - Newly re-elected President Talabani asks Shia compromise candidate Nouri al-Maliki
to form a new government, ending months of deadlock.
2006 May and June - An average of more than 100 civilians per day are killed in violence in Iraq, the
UN says.
2006 7 June - Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is killed in an air strike.
2006 November - Iraq and Syria restore diplomatic relations after nearly a quarter century.
More than 200 die in car bombings in the mostly Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad, in the worst attack
on the capital since the US-led invasion of 2003.

Saddam executed

2006 December - Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity.
2007 January - US President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops will be
dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad.
UN says more than 34,000 civilians were killed in violence during 2006; the figure surpasses official
Iraqi estimates threefold.
2007 February - A bomb in Baghdad's Sadriya market kills more than 130 people. It is the worst single
bombing since 2003.
2007 March - Insurgents detonate three trucks with toxic chlorine gas in Falluja and Ramadi, injuring
hundreds.
2007 April - Bombings in Baghdad kill nearly 200 people in the worst day of violence since a US-led
security drive began in the capital in February.
2007 August - Truck and car bombs hit two villages of Yazidi Kurds, killing at least 250 people - the
deadliest attack since 2003.
Kurdish and Shia leaders form an alliance to support Prime Minister Maliki's government but fail to
bring in Sunni leaders.

Blackwater shootings, Turkish raids

2007 September - Controversy over private security contractors after Blackwater security guards
allegedly fire at civilians in Baghdad, killing 17.
2007 October - The number of violent civilian and military deaths continues to drop, as does the
frequency of rocket attacks.
2007 December - Britain hands over security of Basra province to Iraqi forces, effectively marking the
end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
2008 January - Parliament passes legislation allowing former officials from Saddam Hussein's Baath
party to return to public life.
2008 March - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits.
Prime Minister Maliki orders crackdown on militia in Basra, sparking pitched battles with Moqtada
Sadr's Mehdi Army. Hundreds are killed.
2008 September - US forces hand over control of the western province of Anbar - once an insurgent
and Al-Qaeda stronghold - to the Iraqi government. It is the first Sunni province to be returned to to the
Shia-led government.
Iraqi parliament passes provincial elections law. Issue of contested city of Kirkuk is set aside so
elections can go ahead elsewhere.

Security pact approved

2008 November - Parliament approves a security pact with the United States under which all US troops
are due to leave the country by the end of 2011.
2009 January - Iraq takes control of security in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and assumes more
powers over foreign troops based in the country. PM Nouri al-Maliki welcomes the move as Iraq's "day
of sovereignty".
2009 March - US President Barack Obama announces withdrawal of most US troops by end of August
2010. Up to 50,000 of 142,000 troops now there will stay on into 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and
protect US interests, leaving by end of 2011.
2009 June - US troops withdraw from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion, having
formally handed over security duties to new Iraqi forces.

New political groupings

2009 July - New opposition forces make strong gains in elections to the regional parliament of
Kurdistan, but the governing KDP and PUK alliance retains a reduced majority. Masoud Barzani
(KDP) is re-elected in the presidential election.
2009 October - Two car bombs near the Green Zone in Baghdad kill at least 155 people, in Iraq's
deadliest attack since April 2007.
2009 December - The al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq claims responsibility for suicide bombings
in Baghdad that kill at least 127 people, as well as attacks in August and October that killed 240
people.
Tension flares with Tehran as Iranian troops briefly occupy an oilfield in Iraqi territory.
2010 January - Controversy as candidates with alleged links to Baath Party are banned from March
parliamentary polls. A court later lifts the ban, prompting a delay in campaigning.
"Chemical" Ali Hassan al-Majid, a key figure in Saddam Hussein's government, is executed.

Inconclusive elections

2010 March - Parliamentary elections. Nine months pass before a new government is approved.
2010 August - Seven years after the US-led invasion, the last US combat brigade leaves Iraq.
2010 September - Syria and Iraq restore diplomatic ties a year after breaking them off.
2010 October - Church in Baghdad seized by militants. 52 people killed in what is described as worst
single disaster to hit Iraq's Christians in modern times.
2010 November/December - Parliament reconvenes after long delay, re-appoints Jalal Talabani as
president and Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. A new government includes all major factions.
2011 January - Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr returns after four years of self-imposed exile in Iran.
2011 February - Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan resume, amid a lengthy dispute between the region
and the central government over contracts with foreign firms.
2011 April - Army raids camp of Iranian exiles, killing 34. Government says it will shut Camp Ashraf,
home to thousands of members of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran.
2011 August - Violence escalates, with more than 40 apparently co-ordinated nationwide attacks in one
day.

US pull out

2011 December - US completes troop pull-out.
Unity government faces disarray. Arrest warrant issued for vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi, a leading
Sunni politician. Sunni bloc boycotts parliament and cabinet.
2012 - Bomb and gun attacks target Shia areas throughout the year, sparking fears of a new sectarian
conflict. Nearly 200 people are killed in January, more than 160 in June, 113 in a single day in July,
more than 70 people in August, about 62 in attacks nationwide in September, and at least 35 before and
during the Shia mourning month of Muharram in November.
Nearly 200 people are killed in bombings targeting Shia Muslims in the immediate wake of the US
withdrawal.
2012 March - Tight security for Arab League summit in Baghdad. It is the first major summit to be
held in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. A wave of pre-summit attacks kills scores of people.
2012 April - Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan halted amid row with central government over contracts
with foreign firms.
2013 September - Fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi is sentenced to be hanged for murder. He
sought refuge in Turkey after being accused of running death squads.
2012 November - Iraq cancels a $4.2bn deal to buy arms from Russia because of concerns about
alleged corruption within the Iraqi government. The purchase, signed in October, would have made
Russia the country's second-largest arms supplier after the US. Moscow was the main arms supplier of
to Saddam Hussein.

Violence intensifies

2012 December - President Jalal Talabani suffers a stroke. He undergoes treatment in Germany and
makes some progress through the winter and spring.
Sunni Muslims stage mass rallies across the country over several months, protesting against what they
see as marginalisation by the Shia-led government.
2013 April - Troops storm a Sunni anti-government protest camp in Hawija near Kirkuk, leaving more
than 50 dead and prompting outrage and clashes in other towns.
Insurgency intensifies, with levels of violence matching those of 2008. By July the country is described
as being in a full-blown sectarian war zone once again.
2013 July - At least 500 prisoners, mainly senior al-Qaeda members, escape from Taji and Abu Ghraib
jails in a mass breakout.
2013 September - Mass killing at Camp Ashraf housing Iranian exiles - members of the People's
Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran.
Regional parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, won comfortably by Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Series of bombings hits Kurdistan capital Irbil in the first such attack since 2007. Al-Qaeda-affiliated
Islamic State of Iraq says it was responding to alleged Iraqi Kurdish support for Kurds fighting
jihadists in Syria.
2013 October - Government says October is deadliest month since April 2008, with 900 killed. By the
year-end the UN estimates the 2013 death toll of civilians as 7,157 - a dramatic increase in the previous
year's figure of 3,238.
2013 December - At least 35 people killed in twin bombing of Baghdad churches on Christmas Day.

Islamist surge

2014 January - Islamist fighters infiltrate Fallujah and Ramadi after months of mounting violence in
mainly-Sunni Anbar province. Government forces recapture Ramadi but face entrenched rebels in
Fallujah.
2014 April - Prime Minister Al-Maliki's coalition wins a plurality at first parliamentary election since
2011 withdrawal of US troops, but falls short of a majority.
2014 June-September - Sunni rebels led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) surge out of
Anbar Province to seize Iraq's second city of Mosul and other key towns. Tens of thousands flee amid
atrocities. Kurdish forces, US and Iran assist government in repelling attacks, US carries out air raids.
ISIS renames itself Islamic State, declares a caliphate.
2014 July - Kurdish Region President Massoud Barzani announces plans for an independence
referendum this year, given that Iraq is "effectively partitioned".
2014 September - Shia politician Haider al-Abad forms a broad-based government including Sunni
Arabs and Kurds.

US announces new forward strategy against Islamic State, carries out air raids in support of
Iraqi Army near Baghdad. International conference in Paris, including ten Sunni Arab states but
excluding Iran and Syria, agrees to support strategy. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-
14546763)
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14
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763
FACTS

Position and Arguments of United States and United Kingdom

During President Obamas address to the United Nation, he called for unity against the cancer
of violent extremists, as pertaining to the ISIS which heidentified as a brutal and dangerous terrorist
fighting. President Obama asserted that ISIS is neither Islamic nor a state -- but they absolutely act in
the name of Islamand their goal is to establish and expand an Islamist state, known as a caliphate.
Obama described ISIS as those who have perverted the religion of Islam into a nightmarish vision
that would divide the world into adherents and infidels.
President Obama urged everyone to choose hope over fear, and that the future is not as
something out of our control, but as something can be shaped for the better through concerted and
collective effort. He further stated the fatalism or cynicism must be rejected when t0 comes to human
affairs and that We choose to work for the world as it should be, as our children deserve it to be.15
President Obama called on the international community to join the U.S. in taking concrete steps
to address the danger posed by religiously motivated fanatics by: (1) degrading and ultimately
destroying the terrorist group ISIL ; (2) bringing the world, especially Muslim communities, together
to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of terrorists, in part by committing to a
new set of principles to reject intolerance and extremism in the education of our children; (3)
addressing the cycle of conflict that createsa fertile recruiting ground for terrorists who inevitably
export this violence.; and (4) ensuring that Arab and Muslim countries focus on the extraordinary
potential of their people -- a chance that is possible and doesnt need to come at the expense of
tradition. Obama seeks to bringpeople of different faiths together. All religions have been attacked by

15
Full text of President Obamas 2014 address to the United Nations General Assembly (http://www.washingtonpost.com)
extremists from within at some point, and all people of faith have a responsibility to lift up the value at
the heart of all great religions: Do unto thy neighbour as you would have done unto yourself.
The President provided a clear sense of the priorities for American leadership from supporting
Ukraine, to testing whether a nuclear deal is possible with Iran, to combating climate change and
disease, to combating violent extremism. Obama asserted that "Peace is not merely the absence of war,
but the presence of a better life. And America is prepared to take actions against immediate threats,
while pursuing a world in which the need for such action is diminished.16
In his speech laying out his four-point plan to destroy ISIS, President Obama declared
that he has the "authority" to deal with the threat on his own, but would still appreciate some support
from the legislative branch. "I welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world
that Americans are united in confronting this danger," he explained.
Obamas four-point plan consists of Systematic airstrikes, increased support to anti-ISIS forces
on the ground who explicitly rules out any US combat troops, increased intelligence and counter-
terrorism efforts to thwart ISIS' encroachment into the West, and continued humanitarian aid to the
populations ravaged and displaced by the violence. 17
President Obama said in his Address to the Nation last 10th day of September, 2014, ISIL
poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, and the broader Middle East including American
citizens, personnel and facilities. If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond
that region including to the United States. And although there has been no detected plots against the
United States, the leaders of ISIL has been threatening America and their allies. The US intelligence
community believes that thousands of foreigners, including Europeans and some Americans, have

16
Ibidem.
17
President Barrack Obamas Address to the Nation on September 10, 2014, (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
office/2014/09/10/statement-president-isil-1)
joined ISIL in Syria and Iraq. These converted foreigners have been trained and have been battle-
hardened, and that these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly
attacks.
Obama stated that the goal was to degrade the Islamic State groups ability to operate, then
eventually destroying the extremist organization, bolster out the Iraqi military and moderate Syrian
rebels to allow them to reclaim territory seized by the Islamic State and cut off the groups funding and
access to the global financial system.18
Obama lifted the restrictions on airstrikes and vows to carry out a systematic airstrike campaign
against the extremists irrespective of international borders. That will almost surely entail U.S. airstrikes
in Syria.Obama stated his plans to train and arm moderate, vetted Syrian opposition fighters in Syria
who oppose both the Islamic State militants and Syrian President Bashar Assads regime. The U.S. is
already carrying out smaller-scale, covert operations to train and equip the rebels. But Obama wants the
Pentagon to pursue a larger-scale program for which Saudi Arabia has agreed to host the training
component.19
Obama also stated his intention to send more troops to the region to conduct airstrikes and to
train and equip other forces fighting the Islamic State group. Those troops join more than 1,000 U.S.
troops already in Iraq. But the U.S. says its not sending ground troops into Iraq for combat.20
Obama says he already has the authority to conduct military strikes under the authorization
Congress granted President George W. Bush to go after terrorists in the days after 9/11. But Obama

18
Ibidem.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
says Congress needs to authorize the train-and-equip mission for the Syrian rebels. Hes pressing for a
quick vote of approval from the Congress.21
British Prime Minister David Cameron stated in his address to the United Nations of the horrors
that Assad has inflicted on his people, whereby schools used as torture centers, and children as target
practice. Cameron told a story of a 16 year old Syrian called Wael who was detained in a police station
in Deraa who said: I have seen children slaughtered. No, I do not think I will ever be ok againIf
there was even 1% of humanity in the world, this would not happen.22
Cameron tells the United Nations that the blood of these young children is a terrible stain on the
groups reputation, and in particular, a stain on those who have failed to stand up to these atrocities and
in some cases aided and abetted Assads regime of terror. Cameron further stated that if the United
Nations Charter has any value in the modern times,it must now join together to support a rapid political
transition and not just turn a deaf ear to the voices of people suffering. It is the responsibility of the
Security Council Members to support for the UN appeal for Syria.23
Cameron said that Islam is a great religion, and that it is observed peacefully and devoutly by
over a billion people, but Islamist extremism is a warped political ideology supported by a minority
that seeks to hijack a great religion to gain respectability for its violent objectives.And Cameron
stressed that it is vital that a distinction be made. In Turkey, its government is of roots of Islamic
values, but with democratic politics, an open economy and a responsible attitude to supporting change
in Libya, Syria and elsewhere in the region. Cameron believes the same path is open to Egypt, Tunisia

21
Ibid.
22
British Prime Minister David Camerons address to the United Nations
(https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-camerons-address-to-the-united-nations-general-assembly)
23
British Prime Minister David Camerons address to the United Nations.
and their neighbours. And that other countriesmust help them take it. Cameron said that Democracy
and Islam can flourish alongside each other.24
Cameron said in an interview that "We cannot turn our backs on the world. When our values are
threatened, we must have the confidence to stand firm," he insisted. And he gave salutations to the
armed forces who are putting themselves in harm's way in the interest of the nation. ISIS must and can
be driven out of Iraq so we are backing the coalition's strikes.25
Whereby, US President Barrack Obamas stand is to use force to control the morbid acts of the
Islamist extremist and thus protecting the innocent people who are not part of the fanaticism, and
British Prime Minister David Cameron supports the United States in their conquest to help the people
burdened by such violence and spilling of blood.












24
Ibidem.
25
British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Conservative Party Conference,
(https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/14468-david-cameron-isis-fighters-are-an-enemy-of-the-
uk)
POSITION OF IRAN


The President of Iran gave his speech at the UN General Assembly last 24 September, 2014,
stating his position regarding the plans of military intervention led by United States of America to fight
terrorism in Syria and as well as in Iraq. This is the abstract or the summary of President Hasan
Rouhanis speech on the said Assembly.

On the first part of Iranian President Hasan Rouhanis speech, he serves as the voice of the
unheard, echoing the fear of the people towards war and its deplorable aftermath. Pointing out the issue
of peoples aporetic perception to religious and ethnic confrontation and thereby reminding about his
hopes for peace and his opposition to war. Stating Iran as an example of achieving peace through
rationality and moderation as exemplified in their elections; despite the disputes and instabilities, a
peaceful resolution was thereby established creating a safe environment.

The President further pointed out that unwanted consequences might transpire due to
miscalculation of actions in procuring war to obtain peace. Relating back to history and insisting that
the age old reliance to military and violent means is over, and such expediency is only a way to
preserve the old superiority and domination of those who rely with such archaic method.

Despite the express opposition of President Rouhani to the planned US military intervention, he
expresses his deep indignance to terrorism and its inhumanity and the effects as well. The president
believes that such intervention has no legal basis that it is really not to be considered an intervention
but rather an attack. His opposition are leaning towards welfare of the people, the innocent civilians
that are everyday suffering from the harsh effects of violence. He believes that it is not violence that
defeats violence. That as much as terrorism is needs to be castigated, the violence and extreme actions
that aim to combat terrorism should be condemned as well.

Lastly, President Rouhani reminded everyone in the Assembly that, military option has always
been served on the table and it did not give them the result they were aiming for so He encouraged
everyone by stating that:

xxx that peace is within reach. So, in the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran I
propose, as a starting step, the consideration by the United Nations of the project: the World
Against Violence and Extremism. (WAVE) Let us all join this WAVE. I invite all states,
international organizations and civil institutions to undertake a new effort to guide the world in
this direction.

We should start thinking about Coalition for Enduring Peace all across the globe
instead of the ineffective Coalitions for War in various parts of the world. xxx
26

The President of Iran then, ended his speech quoting from the Holy Quran.



26
Full text of Hasan Rouhani's speech at the UN | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-hasan-
rouhanis-speech-at-the-un/#ixzz3Efm8z6D1

CONCLUSION


The main issue of this research is whether the proposition of the United States of the America
for military intervention in Syria has a legal basis. Now that the United Kingdom authorized airborne
strike in Iraq, the government insists such action is legal because Iraq's government has requested
international help to tackle the Sunni extremist group, which has overrun vast swathes of Iraq and Syria
and massacred religious minorities and Shia Muslims.
27
But how about the plan on attacking Syria, it
has not expressly consented to military operations against Isis on its territory nor has any state
engaging in the operations offered consent as their legal basis for action,
28
nor With Russia and China
opposed, the UN Security Council will not give its backing.
29



However the US availed on Article 51 of the UN Charter
30
which states:

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

27
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/26/world/europe/uk-parliament-iraq-isis/
28
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/legal-basis-war-isis-syria-islamic-state
29
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-23847169
30
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-syria-strikes-and-international-law-2014-9
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.
31



The wordings in Article 51 are very clear, as it provides that the right to self-defence only
applicable if an armed attack occurs. This has precluded any attempts to justify the so-called pre-
emptive strike or anticipatory self-defence.
32
In the case of Advisory Opinion on the Palestinian Wall,
the I.C.J held that the State which invokes the right to self-defence has the burden of proof to show that
there is in fact situation of armed attack occurring against it, at the very time where the right of self-
defence is being invoked by that State.
33



The same line of endorsement can also be seen in the Case Concerning Oil Platforms where it
was held that if the State can prove the existence of armed attack occurring at the time it invokes the
right to self-defence, whether in response to armed attacks initiated by regular military forces of other
sovereign States, or by non-State actors acting on behalf of that other State, then the State can
legitimately rely on Article 51.
34




31
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_16937.htm
32
Mohammad Naqib Ishan Jan, Use of Force in International Law, CLJ Publication 2011, pp. 132
33
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion of
9 July 2004, ICJ Rep (2004), at 136.
34
Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), Judgment, I. C. J. Reports 2003, p. 161.
There have yet no reports of armed attacks in the US itself, only to US citizen who were
abducted and persecuted in Syria at that time. These killings may result to breach or violation of
international crime on crimes against humanity, but such actions are not enough to bring about the right
of self-defence provided in Article 51 UN charter.


Also, the exercise of right to self-defence must be reported to the U.N.S.C as soon as possible
in accordance with Article 51 of the U.N Charter. The article provides that the Measures taken by
Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security
Council. Prof. Christine Gray wrote that given that the UN Charter aims not only to limit, but also to
centralize, the use of force under UN control, it seems clear that the intention [of reporting to the
U.N.S.C] was to give the Security Council the right to decide measures terminating the right to self-
defence.
35
Many other international scholars agreed with this proposition.
36
As of now, China and
Russia is not backing up US and UK, having lost.


The target group of the military intervention is the ISIS, a terrorist group that emerged in Iraq
and Syria. It should be noted however, that there is an absence of a general definition of terrorism in
international law, and such absence give difficulties to criminalise terrorism per se as an international
crime. Even where a state acts unlawfully, including attacking civilians and/ or creating and spreading
terror, such acts are generally considered as breaches of international humanitarian law but not acts that
ought to be labelled as terrorists within the international legal discourse. From the perspective of

35
Christine Gray, note 89 at 98; Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto, Walking an International Law Tightrope: Use of
Military Force to Counter Terrorism--Willing the Ends, 31 Brook. J. INT'L L. 405, 431-33 (2006), at 414-16.
36
Abram Chayes, The Use of Force in the Persian Gulf, in Law and Force in the New International Order (Lori
F. Damrosch & David J. Scheffer eds., 1991), at 5; Thomas M. Franck & Faiza Patel, UN Police Action in Lieu
of War: The Old Order Changeth, 85 Am. J. Int'l L. 63,72 (1991) at 63.
international criminal law and its basic and non-derogable principles, the core requirements are clear:
the principle of legality, nullum crimen nullum poena sine lege, has to be satised.
37
In other words, as
there is no crime without law, it is consequently not possible to talk about the suppression of a
criminal act by the exercise of criminal jurisdiction if the act in question is not properly dened.
38



Therefore, as of now, it is evident that there is no clear legal basis yet for the military
intervention led by the United States. With no permission from Damascus neither from the United
Nations Council as to allow said intervention, such might constitute as an attack or a military conflict,
breaching treatise on war. Unlawful actions made by ISIS do not yet fall squarely on the requirements
that would give merits for military action by other states, but such unlawful actions are enough to be
violative of other international crimes or treatise, however, their violation cannot be regarded as legal
basis for any intervention.



37
Bassiouni, C. Introduction to International Criminal Law (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2003) . p.63
38
Kold, R. The exercise of Criminal Jurisdiction over International Terrorists in A. Bianchi Ed., Enforcing International Law
Norms against Terrorism (Oxford: Hart Publishing 2004) 227-281, p.227