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Americans are sick and tired of Saudi Arabia: US senator

382014_Bernie-Sanders

A US senator says Americans are getting sick and tired of the Middle East region, particularly of Saudi Arabia, and calls on Riyadh to send troops to fight the ISIL terrorist group.

Bernie Sanders, one of the US Senate’s leading liberals, made the remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” program broadcast on Sunday.

He said that the United States’ allies have not been forceful enough in the US-led airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria because “they believe that the American taxpayers… and American soldiers ultimately will do it.”

“This is not just an American problem. This is an international crisis. This is a regional crisis,” Sanders stated.

“I think the people of America are getting sick and tired of the world and the region, Saudi Arabia and the other countries saying, ‘Hey, we don’t have to do anything about it. The American taxpayer, the American soldiers will do all the work for us,’ ” he added.

Last month, Washington announced that some 30 countries agreed to join the US-led coalition against ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government. Saudi Arabia reportedly provided the funding for the terrorist group.

The group controls large parts of Syria’s northern territory and sent its fighters into Iraq in June this year, quickly seizing vast expanse of land straddling the border between the two countries.

Since September 23, the US and some of its Arab allies have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The air campaign has largely failed to halt ISIL advances.

US warplanes have also conducted hundreds of strikes against ISIL in Iraq since mid-August.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have participated in some of the airstrikes against ISIL.

Senator Sanders called on Saudi Arabia to send ground troops to fight the group.

“I want the Saudi Arabian government to be actively involved. I want their troops to be on the ground,” he said. “So, yes, I think we have to play a very strong and supportive role with the UK, with France, with Canada, with other countries. It cannot and should not be the United States alone.”

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011 with ISIL terrorists currently controlling parts of Syria and Iraq.

The Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have been supporting the militants operating inside Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

ISIL terrorists have committed widespread acts of violence, including mass executions, abductions, torture and forcing women into slavery in the areas they have seized in Syria and Iraq.

They have threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Izadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in the two countries.

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