Yet the US stopped USSR ships bound for Cuba with missiles. The US argued that there was no need for approval because the action was not an enforcement of a regional arrangement. Many, if not most, of these do not stand close inspection. The state being attacked would have the right to act in self-defense against the perpetrator as well as its proxy. Should another nation intervene in any civil war by directly entering the conflict, it then becomes an international conflict and the entire body of international war law applies.
Some interventions draw considerable criticism from allies as well as others.
The level of domestic objection depends on how well it is reported and on the intensity and length of the intervention. Brief, illegal interventions seldom penetrate public consciousness in the United States. Prosecution of War Crimes War crime charges do not get equal treatmentunder international law . Whether a nation or its leaders are prosecuted after a conflict usually depends on who won the war. Rather than appeal to a court, major nations prefer war crime tribunals that use definitions of war crimes made by the courts, the UN, et al.