Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina argued the US should “secure a no-fly zone around anti-Assad rebel forces that we’re supporting” and “be prepared” to use force against Russia if need be on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Fiorina said, Well, first, we know what’s going on. Syria and Russia, who have had a longstanding relationship, Iran, and Iraq, are forming an unholy alliance. Russia’s intentions are to shore up, and stabilize the Assad regime. ISIS is sort of a camouflage. There is no doubt, that Russia will be conducting airstrikes against anti-Assad rebels, whether or not they happen to strike a few ISIS folks as well is, I don’t know, to be determined. Here’s what we need to do immediately, I believe. First, not only can we not withdraw our air support, but 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. This is a tricky maneuver, it’s a dangerous maneuver, but it’s a maneuver that 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.”

When asked if these means the US might use force against Russian aircraft, Fiorina answered, “Well, hopefully not. 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. Remember, Russian jets have been basically conducting dangerous and unpredictable maneuvers around our waters, and our borders, and our territory. So, this is clearly a Russian aggressor that feels very confident, and why wouldn’t they? Because Obama and Kerry have been unbelievably weak, and surprised by all these maneuvers, although they should not have been. Because when General Soleimani of the Quds Force traveled to Russia on behalf of Iran, it was clear he was beseeching Russia to enter into this unholy alliance.”

Fiorina added that Russia is taking “a direct strategy” against the US and that “so far” Putin is winning the game of chicken against Obama. She continued, “it’s really a shame. You know, if you permit bad behavior, you get more bad behavior. So, hen we did not push back in any way on Russia’s aggression into Ukraine, we get more bad behavior. What I would do, as president of the United States, is immediately call together the Turks. I would start arming the Kurds. My goodness, the Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years, we haven’t done it. We need now to engage the Turks, who have been asking us to work with them to secure a no-fly zone between the Turkish and Syrian border. We haven’t really done that, we need to. We need to arm the Kurds, and we need to pull together our Sunni Arab allies, who view all of these developments with great alarm, and provide them with the leadership, the support, the materiel that they need, to not only defeat ISIS, but also to stand up against Iranian, Syrian, and Russian aggression.”

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