US: Safe zones in Syria linked to Turkey's steps

The U.S. military?s top-ranking officer says contingency plans have been drawn up for a safe zone in consultation with Turkey, while a senior Pentagon official has told Hürriyet that this is conditional on Turkey?s steps on plans to train Syrian rebels, which remains a source of tension between the two countries.

?We?ve been planning for such a contingency for some time,? General Martin Dempsey told members of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on May 6.

Dempsey said U.S. forces were capable of carving out a buffer zone in Syria but it was a ?major political decision? and would mean troops stationed elsewhere would not be available for other missions.   

?It?s practical militarily, but it would be a significant policy decision to do so,? he said.

He also said that for ?this to be practical and effective, it would have to involve regional partners.? 

Turkey has long called for a safe area to be set up along the Syrian-Turkish border to protect civilians, but President Barack Obama?s administration has yet to endorse the idea.

Creating a humanitarian safe zone in Syria would entail a ?major combat mission? requiring U.S. troops to fight jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), other extremist groups and the Damascus regime, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at the same hearing. 

Carter emphasized the challenges involved in establishing a buffer zone, and warned that other regional governments might not be ready to contribute to the effort.

?We would need to fight to create such a space and then fight to keep such a space. That?s why it?s a difficult thing to contemplate,? Carter said. 

The ?practicalities? would be ?significant,? he added.

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