USA steps up attacks on Islamic State oil trucks in Syria

Requests for more counterintelligence, military and humanitarian assistance came a day before French President Francois Hollande was to arrive at the White House to discuss the fight against the extremists believed to be behind the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people.

Hollande’s visit to Washington is part of a diplomatic offensive to get the worldwide community to bolster the campaign against the Islamic State militants.

“The USA has been conducting 80% or so of the airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and France has very importantly been the only European country to engage in airstrikes in Syria with us”, said Derek Chollet of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. His administration tried to convince U.S. House members that the refugee screening process was sufficient, and Obama began entertaining a U.S. Senate proposal to deny visa waivers to recent visitors to Iraq and Syria. Efforts to train and equip moderate rebel groups in Syria have struggled, though Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special operations forces to the country to jumpstart the program.

The White House urged allies on Monday to do more in the campaign against the Islamic State, while President Barack Obama faced pressure in return to show the U.S.-led coalition will intensify efforts in response to the Paris attacks, even without a major shift in strategy.

Last week, Hollande called for the USA and Russian Federation to set aside their policy divisions over Syria and “fight this terrorist army in a broad, single coalition”.

“We are not talking about a command center”.

Dungan said, for example, that Hollande may try to secure an undertaking from Obama to implicitly agree to slow walk the departure of Assad in exchange for a more coordinated and targeted Russian role in hitting ISIS.

“There is no war-weariness in France like there is in the United Kingdom or the U.S. There is no sense that Chirac, (successor Nicolas) Sarkozy or Hollande has lied to the French people”, he said. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the plane was over Syrian territory “throughout the flight”.

Obama also said there was an “increasing awareness” by Russian President Vladimir Putin that IS is Moscow’s gravest threat in the Middle East. IS claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger jet in Egypt last month with 224 on board.

Obama said it “would be helpful” if Russian Federation directed its focus on tackling Islamic State and he hoped Moscow would agree to a leadership transition in Syria that meant its president stepping down.

The quagmire in Syria has dragged on for almost five years, and criticism of Obama’s strategy appears only to grow louder.