WASHINGTON
The U.S.’s top military officer and the country’s defense chief seemed to be at odds Wednesday about whether to establish a safe zone in northern Syria.
Outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Ash Carter testified before a Senate subcommittee on the 2016 Defense Department proposed budget.
The two officials were asked about the practicality of establishing a safe zone in northern Syria as a safe haven for displaced persons in the country.
"Doing something like that would be contested both by ISIL forces and Al-Nusrah and other groups on the one hand and by the Syrian forces on the other and would not necessarily be supported by the neighbors," said Carter.
With a lack of military support from Syria’s neighbors, the U.S. would need to create and defend the safe zone, practically alone, he said.
"That is a combat mission, a major combat mission," Carter added. "We would need to fight to create such a space and then fight to keep such a space. That is why it is difficult to contemplate such a challenge."
Dempsey, sitting beside Carter, agreed that Daesh and the Syrian regime would challenge the safe zone but said such a move would be sensible and the U.S. is able to do it.
"It is practical militarily but it would be a significant policy decision to do so," Dempsey said. "I can tell you that militarily, the U.S. CENTCOM, in conjunction with European command and our Turkish counterparts, we’ve been planning for such a contingency for some time."
He added that it would require a policy decision to create such an area.
Turkey has demanded that the international community establish a buffer zone in northern Syria, with air support, to relocate Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons.
Washington has so far dragged its feet on Ankara's proposal while some anti-Daesh coalition members, including France, has pledged support for the proposal.
During the five-year civil war in Syria, more than half of the population has been displaced and in excess of 220,000 victims have been killed amid the conflicts.
Turkey currently hosts more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees while millions others have taken shelter in neighboring Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
