“Safe Zones” in Syria: Blessing or a Cunning Plan?

It is not a secret that on January 25, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump proposed to set up so-called “safe zones” in Syria. In addition, recently, he said that Gulf States would pay for them.

Nowadays, it is unclear whether these plans are directed to the benefit of the Syrian people, or it is just another maneuver to delay the process of the peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.

Talking about the reasons of his proposal, Donald Trump confined himself to a massive influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq in the EU. According to him, “safe zones” are able to defend Europeans from terrorists, who sneak into Europe disguised as migrants.

According to Reuters, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department in the coming days to come up with a plan for the zones. However, it isn’t clear, what these safe zones mean for Trump. If this is the territory, in which the civilian population would be guaranteed safety, it is one matter. If this plan includes the establishment of no-fly zones, it is a different one.

After Trump’s statement about his plans to establish a so-called “safe zone” in Syria, foreign media reported that Donald Trump intends to establish no-fly zones in it. In addition, the protection of these areas is likely to require the deployment of the U.S. military in the region. Barack Obama once tried to avoid this for fear of getting bogged down in the Syrian conflict.

Apparently, in any case, it is not allowed to set up such zones in places, where the Syrian Army conducts combat operations against terrorists. This will eliminate the possibility of effective fighting against extremists, who may take shelter from the air strikes in these zones.

However, the initiative of the U.S. president on the establishment of “safe zones” was supported by Turkey. In addition, according to reliable sources, a few days ago, the United States and Turkey made arrangements for joining efforts to establish such zones.

Meanwhile, it should be mentioned that the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, during a telephone conversation with Donald Trump, also supported the establishment of “safe zones” in Syria and Yemen. So, why did Saudi Arabia support this idea? What is its real aim? It is known that Saudi Arabia financed and armed terrorists in Syria throughout the conflict.

Apparently, the idea of “safe zones” only seems like a step aimed at the settlement of the issue of refugees. In fact, there are many pitfalls, which the U.S. administration prefers not to talk about.

It’s most likely that the idea about the establishment of the “safe zones” was suggested because of the desire of some countries to continue to provide support to illegal armed groups, and to slow down the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis as much as possible. It is possible that the establishment of such zones means that it can actually be created an enclave, where militants and terrorists will be under the protection of their powerful patrons on the territory of Syria.


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Articles by: Anna Jaunger

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