US envoy says NATO not considering Syrian no-fly zone
Ivo Daalder says no nations in alliance looking to protect rebels from the sky; Russia says it won’t allow air patrols

The US is not considering turning to NATO to back a no-fly zone over Syria, Washington’s ambassador to the alliance said Monday.
Ivo Daalder said the US and other NATO members were not considering a no-fly zone to protect Syrian rebel forces from regime airstrikes, but did leave the possibility open for the future.
“The issue of a no-fly zone is not on the table at NATO. Whether it will (be) tomorrow or some other day, I don’t know, but it isn’t there yet. It isn’t, as far as I know, on the table of any NATO member, including, so far, the United States,” he said, according to Reuters.
US President Barack Obama recently announced he would join other Western countries in arming rebels, and national security official Ben Rhodes said Washington had not ruled out a no-fly zone.
Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, says it will not allow a no-fly zone to be imposed over Syria, which it has continued to arm. On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Victor Lukashevich said Russia would “fundamentally not allow” a no-fly zone.
“All these maneuvers about no-fly zones and humanitarian corridors are a direct consequence of a lack of respect for international law,” Lukashevich said, according to Reuters.
Supporters of a no-fly zone in Syria point to the one that was established by NATO over Libya in 2011. It overwhelmed Muammar Gaddafi’s air defenses and attacked tanks and military vehicles that threatened civilians.
But European nations have shown little appetite for getting directly involved in Syria, where Assad’s forces possess an air-defense system made far more robust with Russian-bought weapons than Gaddafi had.
Last month, Russia acknowledged it has agreed to sell Syria advanced S-300 air-defense missiles, which are considered to be the cutting edge in aircraft interception technology and could make a no-fly zone very costly.
Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have been pushing for a no-fly zone in Syria, and last week said supplying arms and ammunition to rebels is not enough to curb Assad’s air power. They raised the option of using cruise missiles, which can be launched from outside of Syria, as one way of securing Syria’s air space.
On Sunday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, agreed. “A no-fly zone may, ultimately, be the tactic that has to be taken,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”