US diplomats say 'no viable option' for 'safe zone' in Syria
Two senior American diplomats have said that there is no “viable option” to set up a collation-protected “safe zone” inside Syria for civilians and US-allied militants.
"We continue to look at this. We continue to study this, but there is no viable option on the table at this time," Anne Patterson, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told US lawmakers on Wednesday.
Establishing a safe zone would take away resources from the military campaign against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in the country, she said.
Patterson and Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, faced pointed questions from both Republicans and Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria.
The hearing followed a White House announcement last week that President Barack Obama had decided to deploy as many as 50 special operations forces to Syria to “advise” the US-backed militants on the ground.
It also came as Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from several European countries and regional powers, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, met in Vienna last week to find a political solution to the conflict that began over four and a half years ago.
Patterson and Nuland said Russia’s air campaign was exacerbating the situation in Syria.
"So far, then, this has not been a Russian fight against terrorism so much as an effort to preserve the Assad regime," Patterson said about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Nuland said Russia should work with the US and its partners toward political transition.
Rep. Ed Royce, Republican of California and chairman of the committee, criticized Obama’s Syria policy as “tepid” and “very ineffectual.”
“The administration has done little to help the opposition. Its feeble train-and-equip program is now defunct. ... And no one believes Friday's announcement of 50 special forces will be decisive,” Royce said.
There is bipartisan support in Congress for establishing no-fly or safe zones in Syria. Obama administration and some top military officials, however, argue the options are limited and resource-intensive.
"It is also extremely difficult to patrol and to protect these safe zones on the ground. And that would require a very significant investment of ground forces of some sort. But the primary reason is the investment of air power," Patterson told lawmakers.
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