The Role of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Protecting Medical Personnel and Civilians in Non-International Armed Conflicts: Focusing on the Syrian Conflict

The 2011-started Syrian conflict has become among the most extensive humanitarian disasters in current times. The current study investigates how International Humanitarian Law protects medical staff and population groups throughout the Syrian conflict which constitutes a non-international armed conflict (NIAC). Since the legal foundation known as Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols came into effect neither government forces nor rebel parties playing in Syria have prevented IHL violations resulting in major incidents targeting medical facilities and chemical weapons deployment and attacks on civilians. The paper analyzes both the available legal safeguards from IHL while exploring the difficulties organizations face in enforcing those protections across multiple conflicting parties and their collaborations with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This analysis reveals restrictions of international justice organizations such as the International Criminal Court because of political roadblocks paired with jurisdictional constraints when assisting IHL violations.