Story highlights Ben Rhodes is President Barack Obama's deputy national adviser

Rhodes was appearing on the "Axe Files" podcast

The Axe Files, featuring David Axelrod, is a podcast distributed by CNN and produced at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. The author works at the institute.

Chicago (CNN) The no-fly zone in Syria proposed by Democratic front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be both ineffective and a poor use of resources, according to White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.

"A no fly zone in Syria would not solve the problem," Rhodes told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast produced by CNN and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. "If you had an area of geography in Syria where planes couldn't fly over it, people would still be killing each other on the ground. ISIL doesn't have planes, so that doesn't solve the ISIL problem. They would still be able to massacre people on the ground. And we would have to devote an enormous amount of our resources -- which are currently devoted to finding ISIL and killing them wherever they are -- to maintaining this no-fly zone. So it's just not a good use of resources."

Clinton, who served under President Obama as Secretary of State, has argued in favor of a no-fly zone. At a CNN/NY1 Democratic debate last Thursday , with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton reiterated her support for such a move.

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Ben Rhodes in August

"I do still support a no-fly zone because I think we need to put in safe havens for those poor Syrians who are fleeing both Assad and ISIS and so they have some place they can be safe," she said.

In an hour-long interview with Axelrod, Rhodes reiterated the administration's opposition to Clinton's stance.

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