Legitimacy of US military actions questionable

The recent series of air strikes by the United States on Iran-backed military targets in Syria and Iraq have sparked international concern, as they are a clear violation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of these nations.

Robert Wood, the US alternate representative for special political affairs at the United Nations, defended these actions as being "necessary and proportionate", citing a country's "inherent right of self-defense" under Article 51 of the UN Charter. However, attempting to use this right to justify unauthorized military operations in the territories of other sovereign nations that a country is not at war with distorts the concept of self-defense.

The lack of approval from the nations concerned and the absence of pre-notification prior to the air strikes — which the US initially claimed it had done but which it later admitted it hadn't — further underscores the US' disregard for the principle of respecting other nations' sovereignty, as stipulated in the UN Charter. While State Department spokesman Vedant Patel claimed that Iraq and other regional countries "understood" the US' actions, which were in response to the deaths of three US soldiers, the criticism of the strikes expressed by Syria, Iraq and Iran contradicts this assertion and highlights the unilateral nature of the US' actions.