In the days since the group claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, Hollande has called for the USA and Russian Federation to begin coordinating efforts in Iraq and Syria.
Advertisement
Hollande, who will travel to Moscow later this week, declared the attacks an act of war against France and is pressing for greater cooperation in the battle against Islamic State between the USA and Russian Federation, despite differences over Syria’s future leadership.
French President Francois Hollande joined Obama in the White House Thursday to talk about a joint strategy for combating the barbaric terrorist group.
“On the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France … there are words we know so well”, Obama said.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, right, gestures as he speaks to France’s President Francois Hollande after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday, November 23, 2015. “Russian Federation right now is a coalition of two – Iran and Russian Federation supporting Assad”.
Turkey said Tuesday it shot down the Russian plane with a missile strike after repeated warnings to the plane that it had flown over its territory.
Carson has also said that troops on the ground – in Iraq but not Syria – is the best way to defeat ISIS.
And the French air force upped its airstrikes, using US intelligence, nearly immediately. Between meetings with Arab officials in Abu Dhabi, the chief American diplomat told reporters Obama was asking everyone in the United States government for new concepts to speed up the fight.
The White House signaled Monday that it already believes USA contributions to the anti-ISIS effort are sufficient.
Hollande is trying to rally support this week for a more coordinated worldwide campaign to destroy Islamic State.
The U.S.-led coalition has targeted oil infrastructure occasionally in the past, including a heavy attack last month on Syria’s Omar field near the town of Deir el-Zour that hit refineries, command and control centers and transportation nodes.
President Barack Obama pledged solidarity with France on Tuesday after the Paris attacks, declaring “Nous sommes tous Français” – we are all French.
After coming under intense criticism for his response to the attacks, Obama turned up his rhetoric on ISIS Sunday, saying during a press conference in Malaysia that his efforts to stamp out the group would succeed.
Beyond their discussions on military co-operation, Obama and Hollande are expected to discuss diplomatic efforts to achieve a political transition in Syria.
But beyond some changes on the margins of the United States’ participation in the fight against ISIS extremists, the president did not announce any major shifts in strategy in light of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris. The U.S.is deeply skeptical of President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, given his longstanding support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The visit has been complicated by Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian warplane on Tuesday. “I imagine Hollande hopes to convince the two to partner with France even if they can’t partner with each other”.
Washington may, for instance, be interested in finding out whether the French would be willing to send Special Operations forces into Syria to compliment a detachment of 50 such troops Washington is sending, Chollet said. More recently, the militant group has started exporting violence outside its stronghold, radiating fears across the West. USA officials have said IS aspires to attack America but they have played down any specific threat.
Advertisement
Old military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and other troubled Middle Eastern countries have come back to haunt the US, Russian Federation and Europe as the ordnance left behind has fallen into the hands of a powerful enemy: The terrorist group known as Islamic State.
