German Lawyers Call US-Led Airstrike on Syria Illegal

According to lawyers of the Bundestag, the missile attack by the US-UK-France coalition, supported by the German government, violates international law. 
The law experts of the German Parliament denounced the legal grounds for the US-led missile attack on Syria in a report requested by the left-wing party Die Linke, Sputnik reported.
The lawyers dismissed as “unconvincing” the grounds for the airstrike, named by the UK as a retaliatory response for an alleged chemical weapons attack. According to Britain, exceptions from international norms prohibiting violence are allowed when they prevent overwhelming harm to people.
The Bundestag service concluded that the conditions for such exclusion were not met. According to the report, the military strikes are questionable as “suitable means to prevent further suffering, especially taking into account the death toll of the conflict in Syria.”
The report also pointed out at the lack of approval from the UN Security Council. Along with the coalition countries, UNSC includes Russia, opposing the interference in Syria, so German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas earlier argued that the international body was unable to react to the alleged chemical attack. Such reasoning was described as legally irrelevant by the Bundestag service.
The conclusion contradicts the position taken by the German government. Although the country did not take part in the strike along with Germany’s allies from NATO, Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed the actions.
Caption: Law experts of the German Parliament denounced the legal grounds for the US-led missile attack on Syria.