But the delicate diplomacy around the conflict ran into further trouble after Russian Federation confirmed one of its fighter jets had been shot down by Turkey at the Syrian border.
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Hollande added that the United Nations Security Council has passed a unanimous resolution to fight the Islamic State and he believes that means Russian Federation has to refocus in Syria to attack Islamic State forces.
Relations between the two allies over Syrian policy have been strained since August 2013 when U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a plan to strike Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces over the use of chemical weapons.
In the meeting, Obama is expected to tout new intelligence-sharing, which has helped France identify targets for airstrikes in Raqqa, ISIS’s capital in Syria.
Hollande, who will next visit with Putin, said he is willing to work with Russian Federation if Moscow concentrates its military actions on destroying Isis. But Hollande’s mission quickly became entangled with the fallout from a Russian military plane downed by Turkey – an incident with echoes of the Cold War.
Obama and Hollande joined UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in warning against any escalation. However, he did say that Turkey had a “right to defend its territory and its airspace”.
The loss of the Russian plane also underscores Obama’s concerns about instituting a so-called no-fly zone in northern Syria, which some presidential candidates have called for in criticizing Obama’s strategy against Islamic State.
The sit-down comes less than two weeks after the Islamic State group launched a series of deadly attacks in Paris.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Americans to “uphold our highest ideals”, including the freedom of religion, in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks on Paris by the Islamic State group. Obama spoke warmly of America’s affection for France, noting that he keeps a photograph by his bed of his wife Michelle and him kissing in the city’s Luxembourg Gardens.
“I do think there’s the possibility of cooperation”, he said.
Obama is calling it a “barbaric terrorist group”. In Iraq, USA special operations units have been advising and guiding Iraqi Kurdish and other fighters trying to take back territory from Islamic State. “If their priority is attacking the minority opposition that might be future members of an inclusive Syrian government, Russian Federation is not going to get the support of us or a range of other members of the coalition”.
Obama and Hollande were both asked if they could set a deadline for Assad’s exit. “Assad has been the problem so he can not be part of the solution”. In the days since the attack, France has stepped up its own airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria. In Washington, the House has passed legislation tightening vetting for refugees from Syria and Iraq, though the White House contends the additional restrictions would effectively block people from those countries from coming to the U.S.
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He pushed that message again on Tuesday, noting that France, even after the Paris attacks, has pledged to accept 30,000 Syrian refugees fleeing terrorist violence.
