McConnell calls for safe zones in Syria to stop refugee flood

The Hill – Dec. 20, 2015 - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday called for the U.S. military to take the lead in establishing safe zones in Syria to give refugees a place to live instead of flooding into Europe.
 “What needs to happen is you have to have some safe zones inside Syria to stop the refugee flow. Refugees are going to keep on coming if they think they’re going to get killed in their own country,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
McConnell said that will require a “stronger military component than currently has been made available.”
He added that without American leadership, nothing is going to happen.
“The president of the United States needs to step up and say OK, here’s the plan,” he said.
McConnell said President Obama should press allies such as France and England and stable Sunni Muslim countries in the Middle East to provide military forces to help establish the safe zones.
He said the bulk of the ground forces should come from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
“It will never, ever happen from the air only. So it is going to take a more robust effort on the ground, not necessarily with huge compliments of American troops,” he said