French genius: 'Full closure of Syrian airspace is an act of war, but partial closure, is not!'

Via FLC

"... Jean-Yves Le Drian said completely closing Syria's airspace was equivalent to "going to war" and would require a willing international coalition that does not yet exist. The minister, however, told television station France 24 on Thursday that France would participate in such an operation if it followed international legal principles. 

For now, though, he suggested that a partial closure — which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was considering — should be studied..."

To the 'French genius': "Imposing even a partial no-fly zone would be tantamount to war, just as arming Syria’s rebels would be an act of war!"

"...What is particularly revealing here is that a “partial” no-fly zone is floated as some sort of non-war action, but a nationwide no-fly zone in Syria would be “tantamount to war.” But of course, imposing a no-fly zone over part of Syria or the whole of it is a matter of quantitative degree rather than qualitative difference. As I explored in a piece for the United States Naval Institute, imposing a no-fly zone in Syria would likely mean conducting intensive Suppression of Enemy Air Defense to destroy Syria’s air defenses and air force. Even a partial no-fly zone would likely require some strikes outside its limits in order to degrade Syrian airfields, early-warning radars and mobile or semi-mobile air defense systems.

Imposing even a partial no-fly zone would be tantamount to war, just as arming Syria’s rebels would be an act of war, and constitute foreign engagement in the Syrian civil war, and their success would rely on the combustible cocktail of passion, reason, and chance that all wars do.  

The difference between these “time-limited, scope-limited kinetic military actions” and war is ultimately an arbitrary distinction of political language which gives away when either the target or the intervening force, in order to achieve its objectives, escalates force to the point where the label is no longer tenable or useful. ..."

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