The U.S. official spearheading the fight against ISIS threw cold water on the idea of a no-fly zone in Syria Thursday, despite several presidential candidates advocating for the move.
Speaking with CNN’s Elise Labott on his last day in office, Gen. John Allen, presidential envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, said the U.S. has examined establishing a no-fly zone over the conflict-torn nation, but said “now is not the time to seriously consider it” if conditions aren’t suitable.
While he didn’t specify the exact nature of the unsuitable conditions and whether they applied at this point, he gave no indication that the U.S. thought it made sense to proceed with a no-fly zone in the immediate future.
“It’s not just a no-fly zone in a place or … whether it’s in the air or on the ground. It’s also a matter of timing as well,” Allen said.
“The intricacies and the complexities and the cost, frankly, in terms of resources, additional resources, of a no-fly zone or a safe zone are not insignificant,” Allen said. “And the question then becomes, what do we want to accomplish with them? And if the conditions are not suitable right now for what we want might want to accomplish, then now is not the time to seriously consider it.”
Candidates ranging from Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Republican neurosurgeon Ben Carson have called for the U.S. to establish a no-fly zone in Syria to try to stem the bloodshed and give U.S.-supported forces a chance to succeed in the fight against ISIS in the region.
Allen also took stock of the situation in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, where on Thursday the Kurdish military force fought to take back the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar with support from coalition airstrikes.
The operation includes up to 7,500 Peshmergas — the Kurdish military force — who are attacking the city from three sides to take control of supply routes, according to the Kurdish Region Security Council.
“As you recall about this time last year, we were all facing the horror of what was happening in the vicinity of Sinjar to the Yazidi people. A year later, Kurdish forces, some number of thousands of them, have launched into the attack to push Daesh (ISIS) out of that area,” Allen said Thursday, referring to the massacre last year of thousands of members of the Yazidi minority who lived in the region as tens of thousands more sought refuge on Mount Sinjar from ISIS’ onslaught.
Allen said the Kurdish forces were also fighting to cut what’s called Route 47, the artery that passes through the town linking the Iraqi city of Mosul — a prized ISIS possession — with cities it holds in Syria.
“That’s a very important development and it continues to indicate how with coalition air power, American advice, coalition advice, partners like the Peshmerga and other elements within those formations are able to make real ground,” Allen added.
But Labott pushed back on why, with the Kurds such strong partners in the fight against ISIS, the U.S. is not directly arming them.
Allen said the Peshmerga are being supported and armed by 14 countries, but having that support flow through Iraq is part of the design of American intervention in the region.
“One of the reasons we came to Iraq, one of the reasons we committed ourselves, was to restore the territorial integrity of Iraq and the sovereignty of the Iraqi government over all of Iraq,” he said.
“While we may not be directly providing them assistance, the idea that the assistance flows through Baghdad … has both provided for the support to the Kurds but also has reinforced the nature of the sovereignty of the Iraqi government,” he continued. “That’s inherently the reason that we’re operating this way.”
Allen is stepping down after serving as the special envoy for a year. Before that, he retired from the U.S. Marines as a four-star general and also commanded the NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
