Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki Al-Faisal on Tuesday blamed the United States and Europe for the rise of the Islamic State (IS).
The former intelligence chief and ambassador to the United States said arming the so-called moderate rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when the civil war broke out three years ago would have prevented extremists from filling the void. Faisal said the recent creation of an international coalition to combat the group was a good first step, but that IS cannot be defeated until the world gets behind the Syrian opposition and ousts Assad.
