"We will help them and we will build safe havens over in Syria, and we will get...Gulf states to pay for it because we right now have -- we're going to have $21 trillion very soon -- trillion -- in debt. We will do safe havens and safe zones in Syria and we will get nations that are so wealthy, that are not doing anything, they are not doing much, they have nothing but money.

"And you know who I'm talking about, the Gulf states, and we will get them to pay for it. We would lead it. I don't want to pay because our country is going down the tubes. We owe too much money."

Trump's Democrat rival Hillary Clinton also has called for safe zones and no-fly zones in Syria.

In an interview with a Boston television station last October, Clinton said, "I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of what’s happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees."

And later, at one of the Democrat debates, Clinton said, "I do still support a no-fly zone because I think we need to put in safe havens for those poor Syrians who are fleeing both Assad and ISIS and so they have some place they can be safe."

The Obama White House says enforcing a no-fly or safe zone would divert air power that is better used in fighting Islamic State terrorists.