Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said the U.S. “must be prepared” to shoot down Russian jets in Syria, if that’s what it takes to protect U.S.-backed rebels fighting Assad.
“I believe we must tell the Russians that we will conduct, we will secure a no-fly zone around anti-Assad rebel forces that we’re supporting,” Fiorina said on Fox News Wednesday night.
“Does that mean we might use force against Russian jets?” host Sean Hannity asked.
“Well, hopefully not,” Fiorina replied. “Hopefully, if we are signaling clearly to the Russians our intention, it will not come to that. But if it does come to that, I think we must be prepared.”
The U.S. and Russia are at odds over Bashar al-Assad’s regime, although they have a common enemy in the Islamic State. Russia bombed rebel forces armed and trained by the CIA in its first round of airstrikes Wednesday in Syria. The CIA has been backing anti-Assad rebels since 2013.
“This is a tricky maneuver, it’s a dangerous maneuver, but it’s a maneuver we must undertake because we must make it crystal clear to Russia that they do not get to move into the Middle East and become the dominant outside power, which is clearly their intention,” Fiorina added.
Hours after Russian jets struck the CIA-backed targets Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry met with the foreign minister to discuss the urgent need for military talks.
Fiorina told Hannity Kerry and President Obama are acting “unbelievably weak” against Putin.
“It’s really a shame,” she said. If you permit bad behavior, you get more bad behavior.
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