Corker on Syria: ‘We Actually Have a Brewing Conflict That Could Spill Over Into Actions’

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when asked about the U.S. shooting down a Syrian warplane and Russia’s threat to U.S.-led coalition planes in response, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) warned of “a brewing conflict,” which he said could “spill over into actions.”

Corker said, “It’s my goal to actually take action on this at some point. We want to make sure we do it in the appropriate way, but we’re right on the fringes, aren’t we, where in essence we have U.S. troops there that are helping facilitate the SDC going into Raqqa, and we’ve got the Syrian forces who are infringing upon that, and we took them out, as we should. And so we’re right on the edge of that, aren’t we, where we actually have a brewing conflict that could spill over into actions between us and the Syrian regime. That definitely is not authorized, and again, it’s my hope that this is going to simmer—or cool down and not lead to any further conflict. But look, I support what the U.S. has done to protect the SDC, which is going in against Raqqa, people that we have armed, people that we have helped train. And, yet, we’re in a place that, again, I hope will cool down before it gets into further complications.”

He added, “Look, this could get out of hand. I don’t think that Russia wants a conflict with the United States. I know we do not want it with them. Understanding our channels are still open and we’re still doing what we can to deconflict, regardless of the rhetoric that came out of Russia in the last couple of days. We need to do everything we can to keep this from becoming a conflict between the two countries.”

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