washington<u+2014>republican nominee donald trump disagreed sunday with his own running mate<u+2019>s call for u.s. strikes against the syrian military over a russian-backed offensive against aleppo, saying the two haven't discussed the matter. indiana gov. mike pence, mr. trump<u+2019>s running mate, said at a vice presidential debate tuesday that the u.s. <u+201c>should be prepared to use military force<u+201d> against syria to stem the crisis caused by a russian-backed offensive in aleppo. mr. trump, at sunday<u+2019>s second 2016 presidential debate , said aleppo <u+201c>basically has fallen,<u+201d> and that the u.s. should focus on the war against islamic state before turning its attention to the syrian civil war, in which more than 400,000 have been killed. <u+201c>he and i haven<u+2019>t spoken, and i disagree,<u+201d> mr. trump said of mr. pence during sunday<u+2019>s debate. <u+201c>i believe we have to get isis. we have to worry about isis before we can get too much more involved.<u+201d> democratic nominee hillary clinton during the debate laid out an approach somewhat more interventionist than the obama administration has pursued. she stressed her support of no-fly and safe zones in syria, but said she wouldn<u+2019>t support the use of u.s. ground forces. mr. trump said syrian president bashar al-assad, russia and iran are targeting islamic state. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t like assad at all, but assad is killing isis. russia is killing isis. and iran is killing isis.<u+201d> among u.s. officials and experts, there are varying estimates about how long aleppo will last in the face of an aggressive syrian offensive launched last month with russian backing. u.s. officials don't believe rebel-held areas of aleppo have fallen under syrian government control. russia has conducted some strikes against islamic state targets in syria but largely has focused its attacks on opposition fighters and civilians in a bid to shore up the assad regime. iranian-backed militias in iraq are fighting on the ground in some areas where forces are fighting islamic state. but for the most part, syrian forces and iranian forces haven<u+2019>t done much to combat the terror group, u.s. officials have said. in laying out her prescription for syria, mrs. clinton dismissed mr. trump<u+2019>s assessment. <u+201c>russia hasn<u+2019>t paid any attention to isis, they<u+2019>re interested in keeping assad in power,<u+201d> she said, adding that as secretary of state, she advocated no-fly zones, and continues to do so. mr. trump said he supported safe zones to protect civilians if regional powers pay for them. president barack obama has rejected instituting safe zones, which would be areas where syrian refugees displaced by the conflict would be protected from syrian and russian airstrikes. but enforcing such zones would require a significant military commitment that mr. obama is wary of. secretary of state john kerry last week shut down talks with russia on a collapsed syria cease-fire deal that could have led to closer military cooperation against islamic state and militants with ties to al qaeda. mrs. clinton said she backed the diplomacy but the u.s. needed to return to talks with <u+201c>more leverage.<u+201d> <u+201c>they<u+2019>re not going to come to the negotiating table for a diplomatic resolution unless there is some leverage over them,<u+201d> she said. mrs. clinton also said she supported a call by her successor, mr. kerry, to investigate syria and the russian regime for war crimes . <u+2014>damian paletta contributed to this article. write to felicia schwartz at felicia.schwartz@wsj.com
donald trump disagrees with pence on u.s. strikes against syrian military - wsj
felicia schwartz