'Syria intervention sans UN mandate unlawful'

The Netherlands' government has been adviced that any intervention in Syria under current circumstances is prohibited under international law without a mandate from the UN Security Council.

Andre Nollkaemper, adviser to the Dutch government and a professor with the University of Amsterdam, was requested for advice by the Dutch cabinet given the humanitarian emergency situation in Syria, Xinhua reported Thursday.

The US, France, and Britain have claimed there is enough proof of a chemical strike last week near Damascus by President Bashar al- Assad's regime. A team of UN researchers is currently investigating the possible use of chemical weapons.

"The breach of a customary prohibition on the use of chemical weapons by Syria, although it is very serious, provides no legal basis for the use of force," Nollkaemper said in a letter revealed by Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans.

"An attack which is only classified as a punitive response does not fit in and does not support the right of humanitarian intervention. Such an attack can only be regarded as unlawful," he said.