NATO says Syria safe haven not discussed yet

Declaring a safe haven and no-fly zone in Syria has not yet been discussed in NATO, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said here Thursday.

"It's not been on the table in any NATO discussions yet," Stoltenberg said, in reference to Ankara's proposal for a buffer zone and a no-fly zone in neighbouring Syria.

"I believe there is no simple and straight-forward ways for problems we are seeing in Syria around Kobani these days," he said.

Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, is a Syrian town on the border with Turkey under heavy assault from Islamic State (IS) militants. More than 160,000 mainly Kurdish people were forced to flee to Turkey.

There were reports that IS fighters have gained control over one-third of Kobane, despite airstrikes by a US-led coalition.

At a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Stoltenberg welcomed "what Turkey is doing in receiving (Syrian) refugees, and the decision by Turkish parliament to authorise Turkey to defend in a more active way" in Syria, Xinhua reported.

Last Thursday, the Turkish parliament passed a motion to authorise cross-border military actions in Syria and Iraq to fight terrorist groups.

Syria rejected the motion as "a huge deception" and "an aggression" that violated international law.

At the press conference Thursday in Ankara, Cavusoglu said expecting Turkey to unilaterally launch land operations inside Syria was "not realistic."

On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande declared his support for the idea of imposing a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria to create a safe haven for Syrian refugees, echoing the demand of Turkey.