Paris (dpa) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius admitted Wednesday that setting up a Western-imposed buffer zone inside Syria would be "very complicated" and would require the implementation of a no-fly zone.
France, which has the rotating chair of the United Nations Security Council, is working on a Turkish proposal for the establishment of a safe area for people fleeing the fighting.
Fabius told France Inter radio that if refugees assembled in areas controlled by Syria‘s rebels, "it will be necessary to protect them. That‘s called a buffer zone."
"It‘s very complicated. We can‘t do it without the agreement of Turkey and other countries," he said.
He also acknowledged that a buffer zone, without a no-fly zone, would be "impossible."
"To ensure the protection (of refugees) anti-aircraft and aerial means would be required," he said.
That, in turn, would require establishing an "equal" playing field in Syria, he said.
"Which means that ... that forces would be required - which could not be French forces alone - or, failing that, people on the ground, meaning the forces of resistance," he said.
"Obviously that requires international organization," he said, noting al-Assad‘s resistance to the imposition of a buffer zone.
Europe Online
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