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Turkey, US weigh no-fly zones for Syria
ISTANBUL: The United States and Turkey are considering imposing no-fly zones and other steps to help Syrian rebel forces as the conflict there deepens, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ...who will never be confused with John Foster Dulles... said on Saturday. Clinton told reporters after meeting Turkish Foreign Minster Ahmet Davutoglu that Ankara and Washington needed to get into the details of operational planning on ways to assist the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. "Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that," she said.
"The issues you posed within your question are exactly the ones the minister and I agreed need greater in-depth analysis," Clinton answered, although she indicated no decisions were necessarily imminent. "It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense analysis and operational planning." The imposition of no-fly zones by foreign powers were crucial in helping Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Qaddafi last year. But until recently, the United States and its European allies have expressed reluctance to take on an overt military role in Syria's 17-month-old conflict. Davutoglu, responding to a similar question, said it was time for outside powers to take decisive steps to resolve the humanitarian crisis in cities such as Aleppo, which is under daily Syrian government bombardment. Posted by: Steve White 2012-08-12 |
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