U.S. President Donald Trump discussed with Jordan's King Abdullah the possibility of establishing safe zones in Syria, the White House said on Thursday.
This option has long been open to supplement a northern safe zone that would also be a haven for anti-Assad rebels.
That would help the Southern Front rebels and stretch the Assad regime on a north-south axis.
Trying to stretch east, too, would further stretch Assad's forces, so such a move would help protect Arab fighters we support after they defeat ISIL at Raqqa from a Syrian offensive.
The UN chief for refugees doesn't think safe zones can work in Syria. Perhaps. But I think of safe zones as rebel sanctuaries first and safe zones for civilians second.
And achieving peace in Syria to allow refugees to return as the UN official wants would be better achieved by defeating Assad than by letting him win and convincing him not to imprison returning refugees at will.
