Turkey wants to establish a "humanitarian zone" inside northern Syria where refugees can find protection, rather than join the migrant exodus.
Just ten per cent of civilian deaths in Syria are the result of air strikes, the President noted, and protecting a humanitarian zone might require bombing Damascus, causing more deaths.
KAINE: And I said about Aleppo, we do agree the notion is we have to create a humanitarian zone in northern Syria.
The business of war was giving way to the business of peace, and, in Makeni, Polman found that former rebel warlords — such self-named men as General Cut-Throat, Major Roadblock, Sergeant Rape Star, and Kill-Man No-Blood — had taken to calling their territories "humanitarian zones," and identifying themselves as "humanitarian officers".
It relieves the Russians and the Chinese of the stigma of backing a brutal regime and gives them a seat at the table; it also relieves pressure on Turkey, which has been considering creating humanitarian zones along its border with Syria and possibly intervening.
KAINE: Hillary and I also agree that the establishment of humanitarian zones in northern Syria with the provision of international human aid, consistent with the U.N. Security Council resolution that was passed in February 2014, would be a very, very good idea.
Kaine, for his part, called simply for the "establishment of humanitarian zones" in parts of Syria — something that would also necessitate the deployment of additional military force, although he didn't mention it.
A collection of low brick buildings set beneath enormous shade trees, it is a place where it is very easy to forget you are in the heart of both a humanitarian disaster zone and, to some degree, a war zone; on most of my visits, the half-dozen policemen detailed to guard the compound were relaxed enough to take long naps in the seats of a rusted-out Land Rover sitting up on blocks.
The consequences of the country's political turmoil — and the absence of an undisputed government since March — have turned the country into a humanitarian disaster zone.
During last week's vice presidential debate, Pence expressed support for creating humanitarian safe zones for civilians in Syria, which would almost certainly require a no-fly zone of some kind.
Read the issues faced by humanitarian conflict zones, and how far they engage in politics.
