France and the United States have agreed to step up their fight against Islamic State, pledging to increase co-operation and expand air strikes against the militants in Syria and Iraq in the wake of the Paris attacks.
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Obama added, “I had a conversation with President Putin in Turkey, and I indicated to him at the time that to the extent that they make that strategic shift – focus on the Vienna process, where they have been constructive, to try to bring all the parties together; try to execute a political transition that all parties would agree to; and refocus attention on going after ISIL – then there’s enormous capacity for us to cooperate”.
Following the meeting, which was closed to media, the two leaders headed to the East Room of the White House for statements on their discussion, as well as a press conference. He’ll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday.
He noted that French airstrikes carried out over Syria last week were based on targets that were identified using USA intelligence and were backed up by a US search-and-rescue team in case the strikes went awry.
ISIL’s attacks in Paris killed 130 people from 20 different countries and wounded more than 350.
The White House asserts that Assad’s brutal response to anti-government protests plunged the country into civil war – a protracted bloodshed which has destabilized the region.
“I think it is very important for us to right now make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other and find out exactly what happened, and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation”, Obama told reporters. “Militarily [that means] destroying Daesh where they are, hunting down leaders, dismantling networks, and taking back territory they control”. But he insisted a partnership is impossible as long as Russian Federation stands by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is blamed by the US for plunging his country into chaos and creating the vacuum that allowed the Islamic State group to strengthen. “Even as we are vigilant, we can not and we will not succumb to fear”, he said. “That would be extremely damaging”.
During the press conference, Obama spoke quite extensively about what Parisian culture means to Americans, signifying that the people of the United States both empathize with and fully support those directly affected by the terrorist attacks.
Obama said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey had a right to defend its airspace – but he also appealed to Russian Federation to engage at the side of the 65 countries battling to repel Islamic State in Syria.
The sit-down comes less than two weeks after the Islamic State group launched a series of deadly attacks in Paris. To this point, Obama said, Russian Federation is an “outlier” in the fight. Dianne Feinstein and Leon Panetta, Obama’s former defense secretary, said the US effort wasn’t measuring up.
Mr Hollande is trying to rally support this week for a more coordinated worldwide campaign to destroy the Islamic State group (IS). They have said the Russians are more interested in attacking anti-Assad rebels than the Islamic State, undermining efforts to forge a diplomatic settlement in Syria.
French police said they were analysing a suspected suicide belt similar to those used in the Paris attacks, found without its detonator in a dustbin in the Montrouge suburb of the capital.
President Barack Obama is offering a harsh assessment of Russia’s role as he addresses the global effort to fight the Islamic State.
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Obama and Hollande, who called for better intelligence sharing between allied nations, said they have asked the European Union to better share flight passenger information to limit the flow of foreign fighters between the bloc’s open borders.
