§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which United Nations Security Council resolutions specifically authorised each of the allied coalition military attacks on Iraq in the current year, pursuant to chapter VII of the United Nations charter.
Mr. HoggThe Security Council determined in its statements of 8 and 11 January that Iraq was in material breach of resolution 687 and its related resolutions, and warned Iraq that serious consequences would ensue from continued failure to comply with its obligations. Resolution 687 lays down the terms for the formal ceasefire between the coalition states and Iraq at the end of the hostilities mandated by the Security Council in resolution 678. These terms are binding in themselves but have also been specifically accepted by Iraq as a condition for the formal ceasefire to come into effect. In the light of Iraq's continued breaches of Security Council resolution 687 and thus of the ceasefire terms, and the repeated warnings given by the Security Council and members of the coalition, their forces were entitled to take necessary and proportionate action in order to ensure Iraqi compliance with those terms.
The purpose of the no-fly zones in Northern and Southern Iraq is to monitor compliance by Iraq with United Nations Security Council resolution 688 in areas in which there are circumstances of extreme humanitarian need. Iraq has been warned frequently not to interfere with allied aircraft in the zones. Such aircraft have the inherent right of self-defence against Iraqi threats to their safety. Attacks against Iraqi missile systems and associated command and control centres were necessary and proportionate responses in self-defence to such threats.