Harper rebuffs concerns over bombing Syria
Prime Minister Stephen Harper brushed aside questions Wednesday about Canada’s legal right to bomb Syria, ridiculing the opposition by saying he wasn’t worried about “lawyers from ISIL taking the government of Canada to court.”
The Conservatives and opposition MPs begin debate Thursday on a motion to expand Canada’s war against the extremist group by ordering air strikes against ISIL targets in Syria. Previously, Canadian warplanes had been restricted to operating in Iraq. Only the U. S. and five allied Arab countries have dropped bombs in Syria.
The government says it will not seek the Syrian government’s permission to drop bombs, given its view that Bashar Assad has lost le- gitimacy as Syrian president. But the opposition wants to known whether such attacks would violate international law.
In a heated exchange in the House of Commons, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair asked Harper if the Iraqi government had requested Canadian help to protect its citizens by bombing ISIL in eastern Syria. Such a request was key to the U. S. government’s legal justification for conducting air strikes without the Syrian government’s permission last September.
Mulcair also asked if Canada had informed the United Nations of its plan to launch such attacks in Syria, as is required under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Article 51 lets countries respond to any armed attack against them, or at the request of a country that has been attacked. It was also central to the U. S. position last year.
Harper did not specifically answer either question. Instead, he said Canada was following the “same legal basis” as the U. S. and other allies.
“I’m not sure what point the leader of the NDP is making,” the prime minister added. Then, to laughter from government benches, he added, “If ( Mulcair) is suggesting that there is any significant legal risk of lawyers from ISIL taking the government of Canada to court and winning, the government of Canada’s view is the chances of that are negligible.”
A Conservative source later told the Ottawa Citizen the government will be sending a letter to the UN in the coming days.
Questions about the legality of air strikes in Syria, and whether Canada might be breaking international law, were swirling even before Harper and Mulcair faced off during question period.
Flanked by a group of Iranian-Canadians in the foyer outside the House of Commons, Defence Minister Jason Kenney told reporters that the military’s top lawyer, the judge advocate general, had assessed that dropping bombs in Syria was justified under Article 51.
But Mulcair accused the government of essentially hiding behind the U. S. when it comes to defending the legality of strikes in Syria.
“The only thing ( Kenney) has been able to put up as the beginning of an answer was, ‘ Well, the Americans are doing it, it must be allowed,’ ” Mulcair said.
The Syrian government initially warned that any air strikes within its borders would be viewed as an act of war. But it has held its fire as the U. S. and Arab allies have conducted 1,262 bombing attacks within Syria.
The only known incident came when an unarmed U. S. drone was shot down by Syrian forces earlier this month. The drone was reportedly flying in a part of the country U. S. forces had previously avoided.