Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday to hold talks on the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and its role in Iraq and Syria. He was meeting with the King Abdullah and Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba, who has strong links to Gulf kingdom.
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Saudi Arabia has poured money into Syrian rebel groups, and criticized Washington when it backed away from airstrikes against President Bashar Assad following a poison gas attack in Damascus last year. The talks with the Saudis are part of diplomatic efforts by the United States to press regional leaders to tackle the ISIS threat in Syria and Iraq. Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet accused Saudi Arabia of promoting “genocide” by backing Sunni militias tearing through their country.
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- F. Brinley Bruton
Reuters contributed to this report.
