During a major policy speech in New York on Thursday former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the White House to broaden its intervention in the Syrian Civil War and change tack on ceasefire negotiations that have recently yielded some breakthroughs.
Addressing national security issues in the wake of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, Clinton aligned herself with the Obama administration on most counterterrorism policies, except in regard to current military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIL).
She called on the Pentagon, which has already launched more than 6,000 airstrikes over the last year against ISIL to “broaden and intensify” its effort in the region with a “more effective coalition air campaign,” including “more allied planes, more strikes, and a broader target set.”
Clinton also called on the US to impose a no-fly zone over Syria to, in her words, “stop Assad from slaughtering civilians and opposition forces.”
During a Q & A after the speech, the former Secretary of State added that militarized air restrictions would “clear the air” of not just the Syrian Air Force, but the Russian bombing campaign, too. She said the move would yield diplomatic concessions from Moscow and Damascus.
“If we begin the conversation about a no-fly zone,” Clinton said, “it will confront a lot of our partners in the region and beyond about what they’re going to do, and it can give us leverage in the discussions that the Secretary is having right now.”
A confrontation over the skies of Syria between US and Russian warplanes could however, derail those multilateral talks in Vienna. Moscow is a party to discussions, alongside Iran and a number of European and Middle Eastern nations.
Last week, alongisde his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that a framework for a political transition had been agreed upon. The outlined proposal calls on Assad to commence peace talks with opposition groups by Jan. 1, 2016.
The plans entails having the United Nations broker and monitor a ceasefire while a transitional government is created; a process that would include elections in 2017. Jordan was designated by the negotiators to lead a process that would select which opposition groups would be allowed to take part in the interim government and subsequent elections. The parties have not determined, however, at what point in the process Syrian President Bashar al Assad should leave office.
“We still differ on the issue of what happens with Bashar al Assad,” Kerry said following the discussions. He added though, “we do agree to this: It is time for the bleeding in Syria to stop, it is time to deprive the terrorists of any single kilometer in which to hide.”
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee in October that the creation of a no-fly zone over Syria would lead to “substantial” new obligations for the US military.
He added that it might also be ineffective since “most of the civilian casualties inflicted by Assad’s forces on the civilian population have been from artillery and obviously [a no fly zone] wouldn’t do anything about artillery.”
It could also be risky, the Defense Secretary warned. “Were we to fly there, we would need to deal with the Syrian Integrated Air Defense system, which is a substantial undertaking of it’s own,” Carter said.
