United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is currently a party to a series of armed conflicts. For further information on who is considered a party to an armed conflict, see ‘contemporary challenges – multinational forces: who is a party to the conflict?' in our classification section.

• The United Kingdom is a party to the non-international armed conflict in Iraq against the Islamic State group. Following parliamentary approval in September 2014, the United Kingdom joined the international coalition led by the United States and launched its first airstrike against the Islamic State group in Iraq on 30 September 2014. The United Kingdom also provides training to Kurdish Peshmerga forces and military advice to the Iraqi security forces. It has also been supplying the Kurdish Peshmerga forces with military equipment, weapons, and ammunition. C.Mills, ISIS/Daesh: The Military Response in Iraq and Syria, Commons Briefing Papers SN06995, 9 November 2016, p 38 following. See also the information provided for by the British government on its action to counter the Islamic State group. In its letter to the President of the Security Council, the United Kingdom highlighted that its action was taken upon request of the Iraqi government and based on the right of collective self-defence of Iraq, see Identical Letters Dated 25 November 2014 from the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, UN doc S/2014/851, 26 November 2015. For regularly updated figures on the number of British air and drone strikes in Iraq and Syria, see 'Iraq / Syria Operations (Operation Shader)', Drone Wars UK Blog, last updated August 2017.

• In December 2015, the United Kingdom became a party to the non-international armed conflict in Syria against the Islamic State group. After parliament approved the extension of the mission into Syria, the United Kingdom launched its first airstrike against Islamic State targets inside Syria on 3 December 2015. C. Mills, ISIS/Daesh: the Military Response in Iraq and Syria, Commons Briefing Papers SN06995, 9 November 2016, p 38 following. In its letter to the Security Council, the United Kingdom justified its action on the basis of individual and collective self-defence, see Letter Dated 3 December 2015 from the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Addressed to the President of the Security Council, UN doc S/2015/928, 3 December 2015. For regularly updated figures on the number of British air and drone strikes in Iraq and Syria, see 'Iraq / Syria Operations (Operation Shader)', Drone Wars UK Blog, last updated August 2017. Previously, in August 2015, the United Kingdom had killed two British citizens allegedly linked to the Islamic State group. The British government argued that they had been planning attacks against the United Kingdom and therefore the British use of force was justified on the basis of the right of individual and collective self-defence, but was not part of the coalition military action in Syria. See the Statement of David Cameron to the House, 7 September 2015, and the Letter Dated 7 September 2015 from the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Addressed to the President of the Security Council, UN doc S/2015/688, 7 September 2015. For a discussion of the legal issues raised by this drone strike, see N. Luebell, 'The Legal Questions About the UK's Drone Strike in Syria', Just Security Blog, 10 September 2015. The drone strike triggered two parliamentary inquiries addressing both that particular drone strike and broader policy and legal issues concerning British drone strikes, see Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, UK Lethal Drone Strikes in Syria, 26 April 2017 and Joint Committee on Human Rights, The Government's Policy on the Use of Drones for Targeted Killing, 10 May 2016. For a discussion, see C. Cole, 'Parliamentary Human Rights Committee Release Report into Drones and Targeted Killing', Drone Wars UK Blog, 10 May 2015 and C. Cole, 'Intelligence Committee Report on UK Drone Killing: Little Information. Few Answers. No Accountability', Drone Wars UK Blog, 27 April 2017.

• Due to its airstrikes in Syria without the consent of the Syrian government, the United Kingdom is also a party to the international armed conflict in Syria.On the relevance of consent for conflict classification, see 'contemporary challenges - relevance of consent' in our classification section.