French President Francois Hollande has appealed for a grand coalition including the United States and Russian Federation to eradicate Islamic State in Syria after bloody militant attacks on Paris.
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“Not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL”, President Obama said.
“Today again I’m calling on leaders to commit the resources that this fight demands”, Obama added.
Molenbeek, which has large communities of Moroccan and Turkish origin, has witnessed the highest number per capita in Europe of jihadi foreign fighters returning to Europe from battles in Syria and Iraq, according to the Guardian newspaper.
It has maintained it is targeting ISIS, but US officials say the strikes are hitting the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud became the world’s most wanted man after French intelligence officials named the 27-year-old Belgian national as their “best bet” as the ringleader of Friday’s deadly attacks on Paris.
A grave Hollande said the attacks in the French capital that killed 129 people as they enjoyed a Friday night out in bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium, “were acts of war”.
He said security forces had put more than 100 people under house arrest and raided 168 premises since he declared a state of emergency, which he asked parliament to extend for three months. A few of the suspects have been linked to the bloody civil war raging in Syria that has enabled ISIS to thrive.
Hollande closed by saying: “Terrorism will not destroy the Republic, because it is the Republic that will destroy terrorism”. He is suspected of being involved in the attacks.
Salah Abdeslam is the subject of an worldwide arrest warrant by French police who have described him as “dangerous”.
They were among seven people detained in Belgium at the weekend. “No one was arrested”, spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told AFP.
One brother blew himself up in the Bataclan and was identified from a severed finger, while the third was arrested in Belgium but released without charge.
It has emerged Iraqi intelligence warned countries in the US-led coalition against IS, including France, of an imminent assault the day before the Paris attacks.
He announced the creation of 8,500 jobs in police, justice and border administration, a freeze on staff reduction in the army, and said that reservists would be called to form “a home guard”. Now, his whereabouts are unknown. The vehicle was later found in Molenbeek on Saturday afternoon. Abaaoud is a 27-year-old who grew up in a Brussels suburb. Police in balaclavas surrounded a building and were using a megaphone to command someone to come out, a CNN team on the ground reported.
Speaking to reporters, he said the family doesn’t know where his brother is.
French authorities have identified several suspected attackers, most with links to France or Belgium.
Valls said Friday’s attacks were “planned from Syria”.
The official, who has direct knowledge of the police investigation but is not authorized to speak publicly about the probe, said Abaaoud also is suspected of overseeing two thwarted attacks earlier this year on a Paris church and a Paris-bound train.
Paris remains on edge amid three days of official mourning.
No arrests were made during the four-hour raid, and no evidence was found, Belgian prosecutors said.
He was placed under supervision in 2012 after anti-terrorism authorities investigated an aborted attempt to travel to Yemen, the statement said. French, resident of Belgium.
The president assured those assembled that France will “eradicate terrorism while continuing to respect our values and without losing what is guaranteed by the rule of law”.
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Analysts have warned that a backlash against refugees could be exactly what the Islamic State wants.
