Obama, Hollande Urge Against Escalation

“It’s not just our security professionals who will defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups”, Obama said during a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande.

Hollande said the United States and France have agreed to step up strikes in Syria and Iraq to target Islamic State.

Obama then promised a modest increase in USA efforts to help France fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq, including his intention to “sign legislation” to sustain existing support to for French airstrikes.

“Destroying ISIL is not only a realistic goal”, Obama said.

“If Russian Federation is directing its energies towards Daesh and Isil, some of those conflicts or the potentials for mistakes or escalation are less likely to occur”, he suggested.

And Obama says that the downing of the plane underscores the importance of moving forward on efforts to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria.

“Russia is the outlier”, Obama said during a joint White House news conference with Hollande.

The two countries made a decision to intensify and broaden the scope of air strikes in Syria and Iraq and strengthen intelligence sharing on Islamic State targets. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Turkey’s decision to fire on the jet a “stab in the back” as the Kremlin denied the jet ever crossed into the Turkish skies. “We don’t want to exclude anyone”. Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson Center says bridging those different viewpoints will not be easy, but only Russian Federation has the necessary leverage if Assad is to be pushed out. “If their priority is attacking the minority opposition that might be future members of an inclusive Syrian government, Russian Federation is not going to get the support of us or a range of other members of the coalition”.

President Obama sought Tuesday to both defend a longtime North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally and keep the Syrian war from spiraling into an even deeper conflict after neighboring Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that it said violated its airspace. Turkey had also voiced voiced concerns that Moscow had been targeting ethnic minorities who are fighting alongside Syrian rebel groups against Assad.

Authorities in neighboring Belgium said they have charged a fourth person in connection with the bloodshed in Paris, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.

“The United States is certainly pulling more than our own weight”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

The Paris attacks have raised fears in Europe and the USA that terrorists might try to sneak into the West as part of the refugee flow.

Obama is calling it a “barbaric terrorist group”.

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”.

Tuesday’s summit at the White House was the first face-to-face meeting for Obama and Hollande since Islamic State operatives killed 130 people November 13 in coordinated attacks in Paris.