Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said.

"The challenge there is that ISIL doesn't have an air force, so the damage done there is not against ISIL, it's against the Syrian regime," Mr.Obama said.

He added that "without a large number of troops on the ground, it's hard to create a safe zone like that." .

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recirc_item:nth-child(5) { display: list-item; } First published on December 21, 2015 / 5:00 AM © 2015 CBS Interactive Inc.All Rights Reserved.

Days after Vladimir Putin praised Donald Trump as an "outstanding and talented person," the GOP 2016 candidate is launching a vociferous defense on behalf of the Russian president, backing Putin against allegations that he has ordered the murder of journalists in Russia.

"It would be a terrible thing if it were true, but I have never seen any information or any proof that he killed reporters," Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Sunday."You're just saying, he killed reporters.

You and other people tell me he killed reporters.I don't know that he killed reporters.

I haven't seen it.If he did, I think it's despicable.

I think it would be horrible.