MESOP NEWS – SYRIAN REBELS ASK TRUMP FOR SAFE ZONES – Trump to create safe zones in Syria ‘funded by Gulf States’
February 20, 2017 Syria – ARA News – President Donald Trump reiterated on Saturday that he will create ‘safe zones’ in war-torn Syria as an alternative to allowing refugees to enter the United States. Speaking at a rally in Florida, Trump said that he wants Gulf States to fund these safe zones.
“They [Gulf States] have nothing but money,” he said.Trump has earlier called for the creation of safe zones in Syria. However, this is the first time he mentions Gulf States as possible funders to these zones.“We’ve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country and there was no way to vet those people, there was no documentation, there was no nothing. So, we’re going to keep our country safe.”According to Trump, safe zones in Syria would help displaced civilians to “stay there and live safely in their cities” until the Syrian conflict is over.
Syrian rebels urge Trump to fulfil his pledge to crease safe zones
Syrian rebels in January urged US President Donald Trump to fulfil a pledge to create safe zones in their country, but analysts doubted he would proceed with a step that could drag Washington deeper into war, hasten Syria’s fragmentation and risk conflict with Russia.
President Trump has ordered the Pentagon and State Department to develop a series of “safe zones” in Syria.The Syrian political and armed opposition groups have for long demanded the establishment of safe zones in Syria to protect civilians fleeing airstrikes and bombardment by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
According to monitors, the move could draw the US deeper into Syria’s 6-year-old civil war.Saleh al-Zein, the official spokesman of the al-Shamiya Front, a main rebel group in northwestern Syria, told ARA News that all rebel factions would support the establishment of safe zones in Syria. “Such zones would provide protection to civilians, to displaced people from war-torn towns and villages across the country,” al-Zein said.“We don’t expect much from the new US government, but if President Trump succeeds in creating safe zones, that would be a main step towards solution in Syria,” the rebel spokesman told ARA News. – Reporting by: Laila Majdalawi