Turkey Would Support No-Fly Zone Over Syria

Says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey will support a US-enforced no-fly zone in Syria, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told a US television station.

In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, the Turkish prime minister said that President Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons against his opponents meant that the Syrian regime had already crossed US President Barack Obama's so-called red line "a long time ago".

"Right from the beginning … we would say 'yes'," Erdogan told NBC when asked if Turkey, a NATO member that shares its longest border with Syria, would support a no-fly zone or American soldiers on the ground.

A no-fly zone to prohibit Syrian military aircraft from hitting rebel targets has been previously mentioned by US politicians as one of the options the US could utilise in a bid to put pressure on Assad.