US Says No Need for “Safe Zone” in Syria

WASHINGTON – Though Turkey is pushing for the creation of a “safe zone”, potentially supported by a no-fly zone, inside Syria, the US has once again made clear that there is no need for the safe zone from either a US military or a coalition perspective, according to the Turkish Today’s Zaman newspaper

Speaking at a daily press conference on Tuesday, US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said the US military and the Pentagon have made it clear that there isn’t a need for the “safe zone” from a US military or coalition perspective, and that there are difficulties in trying to execute that kind of thing.”

 The Turkish media has been abuzz with stories suggesting that Turkey is planning to establish the safe zone, even without the support of the partners in the US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Kirby said Turkey has made its intention to create a safe zone, which may or may not include a no-fly zone, very clear for months, though the US is not aware of any specific military plans that Turkey might have, adding: “And I would let the US military speak for the complications and the difficulties in any kind of US support for that kind of plan. But again, you should refer — I’d refer you to Ankara.”

Kirby also said that the US State Department has made clear that it does not believe there is a need for the safe zone at this time, and that the use of coalition military assets toward the creation of such a zone would require an “awful lot in terms of logistics, time, resources and effort,” adding, “It’s something that the coalition has thus far not been interested in supporting.”

On Wednesday, 97 nongovernmental organizations made a joint statement in Diyarbakır saying that a push for military intervention in Syria will drag Turkey into a quagmire, the privately owned Cihan news agency has reported.

H.M