US is not ready for no-fly zone in Syria

The United States said yesterday that it is not ready to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria in response to Turkey’s demands, AFP reported.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that Washington was “open to discussing a range of options with the Turks” but that a no-fly zone over Syria was not on the table “at this point”.

Turkey has long supported the idea of creating a buffer zone inside Syria to accommodate refugees from the three-way fight between Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, rebels and Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists.

But Ankara has so far failed to persuade its NATO ally Washington to back the plan. However, US jets are already hitting ISIS targets in Syria.