Attacks on Saudi oil installations and the right to self-defence in international law.

Abstract

The current paper aims at answering the question whether the Houthis attack on Saudi Arabia gives the state the right to self-defence and use force against Iran. The paper will discuss the facts of the case, and take into account the history of the three participants, namely, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the non-state actor (NSA) known as Houthis. Once all the relevant facts have been discussed, the paper will analyze whether the armed attack on the Saudi oil installations qualified the criteria of being recognized as an armed attack. For the purposes of answering this, state practices, ICJ’s rulings, and opinions of scholars will be discussed. Once it has been established that the attack did amount to an armed attack as per Article 51 of the UN Charter, the following section will take into account the principle and test of attribution. An in-depth analysis will be made of the said principle, and what will be analyzed will be whether the armed attack by the Houthis can be attributed to Iran. A brief description will be given of the Unwilling and Unable doctrine by the end of the said section for the purposes of explaining how the importance of Attribution principle has gone low, and instead the doctrine of unwilling and unable has emerged. Once that has been done, the final chapter will discuss whether the KSA can use force as its right to self-defence against Houthis, a non-state actor. In this section, the vagueness of the UN Charter in regards to whether an armed attack from a non-state actor can give rise to the right to self-defence to KSA will be discussed, in light of the ICJ’s famous Wall Advisory Opinion. Also what will be discussed will be the relevant Security Council Resolutions, the state practices, and the views of international lawyers. An in-depth analysis will be made of the unwilling and unable doctrine. The criticisms of the same will also be discussed. The analyzed findings will then be applied to the case at hand and the following question will be answered: Do the Houthi’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations give KSA the right to self-defence and use force against Iran?