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{{expert needed|Netherlands|ex2=Arab World|reason=More information needed and replace out-of-date information|date=December 2016}}

{{Campaignbox Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War}}

This article discusses the '''Dutch involvement in the Syrian Civil War'''.

== Political alignment and international legal justifications==
The [[Syrian National Council]], a coalition of Syrian opposition groups founded in August 2011, is openly supported by the Government of [[Netherlands]]. In March 2012, the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Uri Rosenthal|Rosenthal]] had a meeting in the Netherlands with representatives of the Syrian National Council. He emphasized that President Assad should step down and that the Syrian opposition should unite.<ref>[https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2012/03/08/rosenthal-spreekt-oppositie-syrie ‘Rosenthal spreekt oppositie Syrië’] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405125150/https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2012/03/08/rosenthal-spreekt-oppositie-syrie |date=2016-04-05 }}. Website of the Dutch government, 8 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2016.</ref>

In 2014, this Syrian National Council refused to participate in the [[Geneva II Conference on Syria|Geneva II Peace Conference on Syria]] because participating in those talks would go back on their stance of not entering negotiations until president al-Assad left office.<ref name=globalp>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140120/syrian-national-council-quits-opposition-coalition |title=Syrian National Council quits opposition coalition |work=Agence France Presse |date=20 January 2014 |access-date=23 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122113624/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140120/syrian-national-council-quits-opposition-coalition |archive-date=22 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name=ofisrael>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/main-bloc-quits-syrian-national-coalition-over-geneva/|title=Main bloc quits Syrian National Coalition over Geneva|publisher=The [[Times of Israel]]|date=21 January 2014|access-date=26 March 2016}}</ref>

Apart from [[Law of war|international legal justification for (Dutch) war actions]] against ISIL in ''Iraq'' (see [[Dutch war against ISIL]]), 
the Dutch mentioned that the [[United States]] had appealed to [[Self-defence in international law|the right of collective self-defense]] to justify their US air attacks on ISIL in ''Syria'' to prevent an alleged immediately imminent armed attack from ISIL in Syria on Iraq.<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014/>
The Dutch government apparently tacitly consented to their ally the US thus extending their allied war on ISIL to Syrian territory.

All parties in the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|Dutch Parliament]] (150 seats), except two, supported this allied war in Iraq and Syria: the opposition came from the [[Socialist Party (Netherlands)|Socialist Party]] (15 seats) and the [[Party for the Animals]] (2 seats).<ref>[http://www.nu.nl/politiek/3893759/tweede-kamer-stemt-in-met-missie-irak.html ‘Tweede Kamer stemt in met IS-missie Irak’]. Nu.nl, 2 October 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2016.</ref>

=== Motivation, purposes, strategy ===

The reasons for the [[Netherlands]] to join that American-led war on ISIL in both Iraq and Syria were:<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014/>
# ISIL's advance in Iraq and Syria, while displaying “unprecedented violence” and “perpetrating terrible crimes against population groups”, formed “a direct threat for that region”;
# ISIL's advance in Iraq and Syria caused “instability at the borders of Europe” which threatened “our own [Dutch] safety”.

The purposes of that US-initiated war were according to the Dutch government:<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014/>
* “stopping the advance of ISIL” in Syria and Iraq, where ISIL purportedly had conquered terrain in recent months, and
* “breaking the military force of ISIL”.
The strategy on Syrian territory was described by the Dutch government as coalition air attacks on ISIL.<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014/>

== Military involvement ==
{{See also|American-led intervention in the Syrian civil war}}
On 24 September 2014, the Government of the Netherlands decided to take part in “the military campaign” against ISIL (ISIS) which, as the Dutch claimed, had been started by the [[United States]] with the U.S. military operations in Iraq against ISIL (since 8 August 2014) and the U.S.-led military operations in Syria against ISIL (since 22 September 2014).<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-506?resultIndex=102&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 Letter of the Dutch government to Parliament, 24 September 2014: “Fight against international terrorism” (Kamerstuk 27925 nr. 506)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408112455/https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-506?resultIndex=102&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 |date=8 April 2016 }}. Retrieved 17 March 2016.</ref><ref name="countries">{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/which-countries-are-doing-what-isis-coalition-n212596|agency=NBC News|title=Which Countries Are Doing What in the ISIS Coalition?|date=26 September 2014|access-date=26 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2014/09/24/nederland-levert-f-16-s-aan-de-internationale-strijd-tegen-isis.html|title=Nederland levert F-16's aan de internationale strijd tegen ISIS|publisher=Rijksoverheid|date=24 September 2014|access-date=27 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128072313/http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2014/09/24/nederland-levert-f-16-s-aan-de-internationale-strijd-tegen-isis.html|archive-date=28 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Support for Free Syrian Army ===

The government of the Netherlands designated €70 million to fund Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of [[Bashar al-Assad]]. It provided support to at least 22 rebel groups in Syria from 2015 to early 2018.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/09/dutch-funded-jihadist-group-in-syria-terror-trial-may-now-falter/|title=Dutch funded 'jihadist' group in Syria, terror trial may now falter|date=11 September 2018|website=Dutch News|access-date=16 September 2018}}</ref>

In an update to the official Dutch purposes and plans, sent to the Dutch Parliament on 15 December 2014,<ref name="D.brief15Dec2014">[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-526?resultIndex=74&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 Letter of the Dutch government to Parliament, 15 December 2014: “Fight against international terrorism” (Kamerstuk 27925 nr. 526)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917034459/https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-526?resultIndex=74&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 |date=17 September 2018 }}. Retrieved 17 March 2016.</ref> the purposes of their coalition war against ISIL were still as described in September 2014 to include military support to what they call “the moderate Syrian opposition”.<ref name="D.brief15Dec2014" /> The answers of the Dutch government given in February 2015 to Parliament made clear that, for the Dutch, "moderate Syrian opposition" meant only some (not all) groups that are part of the [[Free Syrian Army]] (FSA); for fear of “possible negative consequences” and because of “the sensitivity of revealing support to specific groups”, the government would not say which groups within FSA are being supported by the coalition.<ref name="Vragen4Feb2015,q.22">[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-527?resultIndex=76&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 Questions from Parliament, answers from government. 4 February 2015: “Fight against international terrorism” (Kamerstuk 27925 nr. 527)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917034349/https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-527?resultIndex=76&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 |date=17 September 2018 }}. (Question 22.) Retrieved 21 March 2016.</ref>

While no new statements were made about legal justification for the military support to what they call “moderate Syrian opposition”, "stopping ISIL’s advance" or "breaking ISIL’s military force", that justification was still a presumed [[Self-defence in international law|right of collective self-defense]] (see September 2014) to prevent an immediately imminent armed attack from ISIL in Syria on Iraq.<ref name=D.brief24Sep2014/><ref name=D.brief15Dec2014/>

In June 2015, the Dutch decided to continue their participation in this allied war against ISIL in Syria and Iraq until October 2016.<ref>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-539?resultIndex=60&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 Letter of the Dutch government to Parliament, 19 June 2015: “Fight against international terrorism” (Kamerstuk 27925 nr. 539)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408153819/https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-539?resultIndex=60&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 |date=8 April 2016 }}. Retrieved 24 March 2016.</ref>

On 29 January 2016, the Netherlands decided to “intensify” the Dutch contribution to the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.<ref name=briefJan2016/><ref name=Ndl.Syria>{{Cite web|title = Nederland gaat IS ook in Syrië bombarderen|url = http://nos.nl/artikel/2083634-nederland-gaat-is-ook-in-syrie-bombarderen.html|website = nos.nl|date =29 January 2016}}</ref>

Militarily, this encompassed:<ref name=briefJan2016>[https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-570?resultIndex=21&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 Letter of the Dutch government to Parliament, 29 January 2016: “Fight against international terrorism” (Kamerstuk 27925 nr. 570)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010122042/https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/27925/kst-27925-570?resultIndex=21&sorttype=1&sortorder=4 |date=10 October 2017 }}. Retrieved 24 March 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dutch-join-us-led-airstrikes-syria-36596232|title=Dutch to Join US-Led Airstrikes Against IS in Syria|date=29 January 2016|work=ABC News|access-date=29 January 2016}}</ref>
* air attacks in Syria on strategic ISIL targets on the supply lines of ISIL from eastern Syria into Iraq – but avoiding air attacks that would benefit the Syrian Assad government.
The air attacks would be performed by the same F-16 squadron already acting in Iraq (see [[Dutch war against ISIL]]).<ref name=Ndl.Syria/>

This time the opposition in the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|Dutch Parliament]] (150 seats) was larger than it was in September 2014. Opposed to this intensification of the fight against ISIL were now the [[Socialist Party (Netherlands)|Socialist Party]] (15 seats), [[GroenLinks|GroenLinks (green-left)]] (4 seats), [[Party for the Animals|Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals)]] (2 seats), Group Kuzu/Öztürk (2 seats) and representative Norbert Klein.<ref>[https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/plenaire_verslagen/kamer_in_het_kort/steun-voor-inzet-f-16s-tegen-oost-syri%C3%AB ‘Steun voor inzet F-16’s tegen IS in Oost-Syrië’]. Website Tweede Kamer (Dutch Parliament), 10 February 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.</ref>

In September 2018, the public prosecution department of the Netherlands declared a rebel group that it had previously supported, the [[Levant Front]], to be a "criminal organisation of terrorist intent", describing it as a "salafist and jihadistic" group that "strives for the setting up of the caliphate".<ref name=":0" />

'''Support for Jabhat al-Shamiya'''

According to a revelation came in a news report on Nieuwsuur, the government of the Netherlands gave “non-lethal assistance” (NLA) to 22 armed rebel groups which Dutch prosecutors had labeled a ‘terrorist’ organization.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.juancole.com/2018/09/prosecuted-levantine-supported.html|title=Syria: Dutch Gov't Prosecuted Levantine Front Member, then Admitted they Supported It|website=www.juancole.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-19}}</ref> One of the groups has been identified as Jabhat al-Shamiya, which had been supplied with uniforms, vans and other equipment.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Syrian civil war}}
{{Military intervention against ISIL}}

[[Category:2010s in Syria]]
[[Category:Involvement in the Syrian civil war by country]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Netherlands–Syria military relations]]
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