Introduction to International Politics
Foreign Event Analysis
| Locale | ![[]](http://www.kvasaheim.com/flags/flag15-sy.png "Flag of Syria") | Syria |
|---|---|---|
| Title |
Syria Raid: Terrorist Aggression?
| |
| Summary |
U.S. officials have reported that a US helicopter raid into Syria killed a key figure whom of which was allegedly involved in the smuggling of foreign fighters into Iraq.
From the perspective of the United States the raid was conceived to be a success as Iraqi Abu Ghadiyah was killed during the raid, while Syria on the other hand refers to the attack as an act of terrorist aggression. | |
| Analysis |
The force used against Syria has been condemned as an act of terrorist aggression, as eight unarmed civilians were killed during the raid. However the US contends that Abu Ghadiyah was the former lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarquawi, the al-Qaeda leader who was killed in early 2006. From the realist perspective the US acted in manner to preserve security and peace in Syria, Iraq, and the United States as well, being that terrorism has been a serious conflict in all of those states. A US intelligence official asserted to the Associated Press that there was information that Abu Ghadiyah was about to carry out an attack in Iraq. An official said that the US had similar but less detailed information in the spring shortly afterwards, 11 Iraqi policemen were killed in an attack the US believes was led by Abu Ghadiyah personally. This data was the catalyst to the helicopter raid in Syria; the US was forced to act in a preventative manner in order to maintain prosperity and security in Iraq.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem asserted that, “Killing civilians in international law means a terrorist aggression, as long as you are saying if, I tell you, if they do it again, we will defend our territories.” That being said, Syria’s borders were over passed in an aggressive attack, so a Syrian act of retaliation to maintain its power and security on the home front may transpire. This in fact could be detrimental to the Syrian state being that the US is a much stronger state. Civic unrest has already began and the Syrian state is a circumstance where in order to maintain its control and power as a government strike back against the US Thus, as a last resort Syria may look toward other states to ally with in order to embark some sort of retaliation or in other words warfare onto the United States for their “terrorist aggression". | |
| Perspective |  | Realist |
| In-Region URL | ||
| Out-of-Region URL | ||
| Submitted | October 31, 2008 at 11:56 am | |
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