The USA president hoped that Russian Federation will undertake a “strategic shift” that would focus it fully on the fight against the jihadists, because having its cooperation “would be enormously helpful in bringing about a resolution of the civil war in Syria, and allow us all to refocus our attention on ISIL”.
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He added that Turkey had a “right to defend its territory and its airspace”. If Russian Federation directs its energies toward IS forces, “some of those conflicts or potentials for mistakes or escalation are less likely to occur”, Obama said.
The White House had no immediate comment on how the shoot-down of the Russian plane would impact the talks between Obama and Hollande.
This underscores the importance of us making sure that we move this political track forward as quickly as possible.
The president spoke during a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande pledged Tuesday to stand “united” on counterterrorism and increase efforts to “jointly” destroy the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIL. “We don’t want to exclude anyone”.
Hollande’s visit to Washington comes as a homegrown French IS fighter issued a new threat of attacks on France. In August 2013, French engines were hot, as one analyst told me this week, when Bashar al-Assad crossed President Obama’s red line on chemical weapons.
Obama says the United States will do even more to prevent attacks at home and that there is a growing recognition after the Paris attacks that European countries need to ramp up efforts to stop the flow of terrorists.
“President Hollande and I agree that the Russia’s strikes against the moderate opposition only bolster the Assad regime, whose brutality has helped to fuel the rise of ISIL”. It can not be tolerated. “And we must do it together”, Obama said, according to USA Today.
Obama said that while the multinational coalition has managed to push Islamic State from some territory it held in Syria and Iraq, USA partners in the fight must do more. So far, Obama is resisting calls to significantly escalate his approach, and instead is focused on getting other countries to offer more counterintelligence, humanitarian and military assistance. But then the United Kingdom, and the USA, stepped back from military action.
President Barack Obama said the USA and France will “deliver justice” to the perpetrators of the attacks and to “those who sent them”.
Both nations said that they will continue to support those local forces, “enabling” them in the battle from the air with strikes.
While in Paris, the president also will meet with the leaders of island nations facing some of the harshest effects of global warming.
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Obama convened his National Security Council to discuss the recent string of attacks by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which claims it has created a caliphate taking in huge swathes of Iraq and Syria. The US, France and a number of other countries believe removing Assad from power is crucial to reaching a peaceful solution in Syria and strengthening the fight against the Islamic State.
