While Russia is backing a new diplomatic effort in Syria, Moscow still refuses to support steps that explicitly call for removing Assad from power.
Advertisement
The Turkish downing of a Russian jet near the border with Syria on Tuesday underscores the need for increased American leadership in the Syrian war, according to Nicholas Burns, a US career diplomat who served as under secretary of state and ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Obama said that given Russia’s “military capabilities and the influence they have with Assad, their cooperation would be helpful”.
“Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its airspace”, Obama said, while again noting that keeping tensions between Turkey and Russian Federation from escalating is a “top priority”.
PARIS France’s president heads to Moscow on Thursday to try to win concessions from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to fight Islamic State and press on with a political solution in Syria, but diplomats warn that major differences will make a breakthrough hard.
“And I expect to be in communications, potentially directly, with (Turkish) President sometime over the next several days”, Obama told a crowded joint news conference with the French President Francois Hollande.
Obama acknowledged fear among Americans of a Paris-style attack in the United States and urged Europe to share more intelligence on people traveling between Europe and the Middle East.
He said Russian Federation is severing all defence contact with Turkey in the aftermath of the incident.
One of the main sticking points holding up Russia’s involvement in the 65-nation coalition against ISIS has been its longtime support for the Assad regime in Syria.
Hollande has openly called for a greater global effort to push back ISIS, whose killing spree in Paris two weeks ago was the worst terror attack on French soil in more than half a century.
Obama noted that under Hollande, France intends to welcome 30,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years.
Hollande welcomed the US show of unity, but suggested he was more interested in concrete actions than kind words.
“This was an attack on our free and open societies, where people come together to celebrate and sing and compete”, he said. “But that’s not enough”.
When taking questions however, Mr Hollande said France “would not act militarily on the ground”.
At the same time, it became clear that Obama’s own anti-ISIS strategy prevents the US air force from effectively striking the Islamic State.
Obama is calling it a “barbaric terrorist group”.
While Obama repeatedly has heralded a coalition of more than 60 countries fighting Islamic State, the U.S.is undertaking the bulk of the direct military action.
Both Presidents don’t know when Assad will leave office. Russian Federation has agreed in principle to a process that would lead to U.N.-supervised elections within 18 months but continues to oppose explicitly removing Assad.
Advertisement
Another senior diplomat said Hollande’s visit aimed to test Putin’s sincerity, but believed the two sides remained “too far apart” for serious coordination to happen, dismissing any talk of a joint military command.
