The Right of Self-Defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter in Asymmetric Warfare in Light of the Soleimani Case

Abstract

Strategies of asymmetric and hybrid warfare have been a matter of military, political and scientific concern for several years. The killing of the Iranian General Quassem Soleimani by the USA at the beginning of 2020 gives reason to take a closer look at particularities that appear in connection with strategies of asymmetric warfare in regard to the right of self-defence under Art 51 UN Charter. In the debate concerning the Soleimani case, the challenges of asymmetric warfare for international law have so far received little attention. Yet armed conflicts no longer are being waged in a conventional manner but increasingly frequently contain elements of asymmetric or hybrid warfare, so that the topic is of high relevance and topicality for international law irrespective of the individual case. In the article, this constellation is therefore first examined in abstract terms, before – based on the results of the first part – in a second part the killing of Soleimani is then examined for its legitimacy under international law. The aim of this article is to show what problems occur with regard to the right of self-defence under Art 51 UN Charter in the case of asymmetric warfare, what options for reaction and adaptation international law offers and where the limits of these options under international law lie.