Obama, Hollande urge Russia to focus Syria attacks on Islamic State

Yet after French President François Hollande and U.S. President Barack Obama emerged from their White House meeting Tuesday, they made it clear that France has now become America’s essential European partner when it comes to destroying ISIS and charting a diplomatic road map for resolving the Syrian civil war.

Hollande’s visit to the US underscored the urgency on counterterrorism after the November 13 Paris attacks by IS, which killed at least 130 people and injured hundreds of others.

Obama and Hollande also urged Russia and Turkey not to let the situation escalate after Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, said it shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border after it repeatedly violated Turkish air space.

So far Russia’s campaign has focused on fighting forces combating its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey has focused on Kurds, who oppose Mr Assad in Syria, but Turkish governance across the border.

“I think the only realistic leader at this point is the United States – a leader that would come in and try to deconflict the military operation, say between Turkey and Russian Federation, between Russia and the United States, but also unify from a political and military point of view a united front of countries against the Islamic State”, Burns told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. The White House has vowed to intensify its current efforts, which include airstrikes, some 50 special forces on the ground in Syria and support for local Kurdish and rebel groups. They called on Russian Federation to join the global efforts, but only if Moscow ends its support for Syria’s embattled president.

President Obama has been more publicly skeptical of Moscow’s role.

The United States military has backed up Turkey’s claim that Turkish pilots warned the Russian jet 10 times – but failed to get a response – before shooting it down.

Obama called the Islamic State a “barbaric terrorist group”, adding that “its murderous ideology poses a serious threat to all of us. But for Iran and Russian Federation, Assad would not exist”, Bush said.

The attacks in the heart of Europe sparked fears of terrorism in the US, as well as an outpouring of solidarity with the French. “Our objectives are being fulfilled and fulfilled well”, said Putin.

“In short”, he said, “this was not only a strike against one of the world’s great cities, it was an attack against the world itself”.

Without any major new commitments to announce alongside Hollande, Obama instead touted a new intelligence sharing agreement announced last week that has helped France target ISIS sites in Raqqa, Syria.

The president said that if intelligence were to reveal a credible threat to the US, the public would be informed.

Both Hollande and Obama reiterated their determination to see Assad step down in order to give Syria a chance for peace, with Hollande saying “it should be as soon as possible”.

As the two leaders spoke, a joint French and American raid struck an Islamic State command center in Iraq.