While the issue of creating a safe haven in northern Syria has not been ruled out by the Obama administration, its implementation is not currently being considered, officials said Wednesday.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki clarified remarks by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made Wednesday in which he said that the idea of a buffer zone is “worth examining.”
“We’ve never ruled it out. We’re just not considering the implementation at this time,” Psaki said. “Secretary Kerry said in his response there would have to be safety guarantees, would have to have guarantees there wouldn’t be attacks by the government. So those are issues that would have to be thoroughly examined.”
Such considerations are not “easy to address,” Psaki said, adding “we’re happy to hear out our partners and allies out there about their ideas and what they think would be most effective.”
Turkey has been pushing for the establishment of a no-fly zone and safe haven in Syria near the Turkish border as a priority it views as necessary if the U.S.-led coalition wants to join forces with Ankara against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Gen. John Allen, the U.S. special envoy for the anti-ISIL U.S.-led coalition, and his deputy, Ambassador Brett McGurk, will be in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 9-10 to meet with Turkish officials. The buffer zone issue will be a topic of discussion during those talks, Kerry noted.
But Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby also said Wednesday that the idea of a buffer zone in northern Syria is not currently being considered by the U.S. military.
"It is now not on the table as a military option that we're considering," Kirby told reporters. He added that it’s not "an active topic under discussion right now," but said that Turkish officials have discussed it routinely with their U.S. counterparts.
"What we’re focused on is continuing to put pressure on ISIL and deny them sanctuary and safe haven. That’s the focus of energy that we’re applying militarily," he added.
Kirby said he is not aware of any planning within the Pentagon on the possibility of a buffer zone.
A New York Times article published Tuesday quoted a U.S. official as saying that the U.S.-led coalition’s air superiority in northern Syria has already created a de facto buffer zone in the area.
Although the presence of coalition aircraft and ordnance being dropped might be having the same effect as that of a buffer zone, at least temporarily, Kirby said he would not characterize the air campaign in that way.
“I don’t know that I would characterize the airstrikes that we’re doing up near Kobani as a buffer zone. Is it possible that the presence of coalition aircraft and ordinance being dropped is having the same effect temporarily as what a buffer zone might? Yeah, that’s possible, but that’s not the intent,” Kirby said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest also said Wednesday that the idea of a buffer zone is an issue that Turkey has raised, but said it is not under consideration by the administration.
Pentagon: Airstrikes not enough to save Kobani
The U.S.-led coalition airstrikes by itself cannot save the Syrian town of Kobani from falling to ISIL fighters, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
As the terror group tightened its grip on the Kurdish-populated city in northern Syria, just a few miles from the Turkish border, coalition forces also intensified airstrikes in and around the town. However, the extent to which the airstrikes are effective in driving ISIL back has been a matter of discussion.
"We believe they have been effective at what they are trying to achieve," Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said referring to the airstrikes, but he noted that the main targets of airstrikes were not to save Kobani but to eliminate ISIL's command and control mechanisms that were also acknowledged by U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry.
"In Iraq, it’s to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground as they -- and this is an important point -- as they take the fight to ISIL on the ground inside their country," Kirby said. "In Syria, the purpose of the airstrikes, largely, is to get at this group’s ability to sustain itself, to resupply, to finance, to command and control."
Kirby said that the U.S. has said on many occasions that without local ground troops, air power is limited in its impact.
"As effective on the battlefield as they can be, they’re not the solution here," he said. However, he noted that the coalition does not have "a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria." "That’s why we’re so eager to get the training-and-equip program up and running with our partners," he said.
Kirby also said that the U.S. wants Turkey to contribute to the coalition efforts militarily as Turkey has military information and capabilities that the U.S. doesn't have.
"They’re there, they’re a neighbor. This is their part of the world, and we certainly encourage them to participate as actively as they can," he said. "They have a very competent, professional military."
He also noted that as Turkey shares a long border with Syria and Iraq and has more than 1 million refugees, it has a stake in the crisis in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the establishment of a buffer zone along Turkey's borders to hold refugees is needed in exchange for Turkish ground forces to help eradicate ISIL in Syria.
