Former Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a message for the current administration: Don't get into a war in Syria.

"I do not want to see the United States get sucked into perpetual warfare in the Middle East, see our men and women get killed, trillions of dollars being spent," the Vermont senator said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

He instead called on President Trump to focus on what needs attention at home in America.

"I don't want to see us dragged into another war in Syria when kids in this country cannot afford to go to college, when our infrastructure is collapsing, when 28 million Americans have no health insurance, we have got to start paying attention to the needs back home," Sanders explained.

His solution for what is happening in Syria — something he said is "almost beyond belief" — is to instead work with U.S. allies in the region.

"You have a dictator there who appears prepared to destroy his entire country in order to hold onto his power and his wealth," Sanders said. "Four hundred thousand Syrians are dead. Ten million people displaced. They have detainment camps, massive torture, they bomb hospitals. This is a horrific regime."

Sen. @BernieSanders on Syria: The US needs a strategy that demands Russia stop providing weaponry to Assad #CNNSOTU https://t.co/QL9kJSxK12— CNN (@CNN) April 16, 2017



Sanders said that Syrian President Bashar Assad "has got to go" and "ISIS has got to be defeated," but urged the Trump administration to "not act unilaterally."

"In this case, we have got to demand that Russia and Iran stop their efforts in supporting this horrific dictator," Sanders said.

The Trump administration has condemned Assad, who the U.S. military believes is using chemical weapons against his own people. However, beyond a missile strike on an airfield in Syria, Trump has sent mixed messages on what his move will be.