Hillary Clinton restated her support for creating a no-fly zone in Syria on Tuesday, saying the administration should do a better job standing up to Russian aggression in the region.
Clinton said at CNN’s Democratic presidential debate that the U.S. must stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “bullying” in Syria.
“We need to make it clear that they’ve got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict and to provide safe zones so people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are,” Clinton said.
She said she would use the no-fly zone as leverage to bring Russians to the table to join the coalition fighting the Islamic State.
The Russians have conducted about 80 airstrikes in Syria over the past two weeks in an effort to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.S. military said on Tuesday that the Russian strikes are further destabilizing the country and allowing the Islamic State to make gains in the northwest corner of the country.
Russian planes have also had “several” run-ins with American jets, coming within 10 to 20 miles of each other on Saturday, though officials said pilots from both countries behaved appropriately and the U.S. course was not altered as a result of the incident.
Turkey has pushed for the U.S. to create a no-fly zone to protect civilians along its border with Syria as refugees flood into Europe trying to escape violence there from both the Islamic State and the civil war.
President Obama has rejected the idea of a no-fly zone as too difficult to implement, according to a CNN report.
Two other candidates, however, said they would not support a no-fly zone. Sen. Bernie Sanders said a safe zone would present a “very dangerous situation” while former Sen. Jim Webb said a no-fly zone would be a “mistake,” since enforcing it could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
All candidates who responded said they wouldn’t support putting U.S. boots on the ground in Syria, instead relying on forming a coalition with Arab partners.
