The study relates to civilians in time of armed conflict, with the study of the Syrian issue as a model. International humanitarian law has answered many questions related to this matter and has many interventions that have defined and detailed the rules and foundations regulating the situation of civilians in armed conflicts. However, the existence of these international texts, agreements, charters and resolutions did not prevent them from falling into taboo on many occasions at the international level. Despite all the legal legacy in this regard, the serious violations against the Syrian human being have not stopped since 2011 until now. The regime has practiced well-known war crimes and crimes against humanity documented according to credible international reports, but the international community remained passive in its responses to these crimes and did not move to the minimum level to lift the grievance against the Syrian people, whether by stopping it or reducing it. In this study, we address the reality of the situation, trying to diagnose the nature of the defect that prevents the translation of these mountains of legal texts into facts on the ground.The study assumes that there is a tangible flaw in the mechanisms of implementing international humanitarian law, which has exacerbated the suffering of Syrian civilians at the hands of the regime and its supporters. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method in the context of the Syrian case study, where, within the framework of the three chapters he worked on, he monitored international laws and rules within the framework of international humanitarian law, which would establish the first chapter of the study as a theoretical background to the topic under discussion. As for the second chapter, the researcher monitored international reports and statistics of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the regime and its Russian aides and others, which calls for the application of the rules stipulated in international humanitarian law. As for the third chapter, the researcher dealt with the international efforts that were made within the framework of protecting Syrian civilians, evaluating their effectiveness and the extent of their seriousness in preventing the continuation of massacres.The researcher concluded that there is a defect in the mechanisms of implementing international humanitarian law that do not prevent Syrian blood, as tying the decision to implement international humanitarian law to the UN Security Council in order for it to be worthy of implementing its requirements made it subject to political calculation among the major countries that have the right of veto in it. . This situation impeded the application of the law, exacerbated the suffering of the Syrian people, and made this and other cases subject to conformity with the interests of those countries. However, there is a window that is still open – despite not being used in the Syrian case – represented in the International Criminal Court and the opportunity to take war criminals from the Syrian regime there until they receive their deserved punishment. The researcher concluded that there is a suspicious disregard on the part of the parties friendly to the Syrian people for this highly important and available international tool, which can – if used – compensate for the flaw (politicization) that accompanied the international decision-making process issued by the UN Security Council.
