S/2015/688

United Nations

Security Council

Distr.: General
8 September 2015
Original: English

Letter dated 7 September 2015 from the Permanent Representative of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the
United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council
In accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and further
to our letter of 25 November 2014 (S/2014/851), I am writing to report to the
Security Council that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has
undertaken military action in Syria against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL) in exercise of the inherent right of individual and collective selfdefence.
On 21 August 2015, armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland carried out a precision air strike against an ISIL vehicle in which a
target known to be actively engaged in planning and directing imminent armed
attacks against the United Kingdom was travelling. This air strike was a necessary
and proportionate exercise of the individual right of self-defence of the United
Kingdom.
As reported in our letter of 25 November 2014, ISIL is engaged in an ongoing
armed attack against Iraq, and therefore action against ISIL in Syria is lawful in the
collective self-defence of Iraq.
I request that you circulate the present letter as a document of the Security
Council.
(Signed) Matthew Rycroft

15-15254 (E)

080915

*1515254*