France, US agree to step up strikes on ISIS targets in Syria

US President Barack Obama has called on his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to de-escalate tensions with Moscow, after Ankara downed a Russian jet on Tuesday, the White House says.

France has stepped up it aerial bombing campaign of Islamic State targets in Syria since the group claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.

Both Obama and Hollande have encouraged Russian Federation to work with them in defeating the Islamic State while also maintaining control and preventing escalation.

Those strikes were joined in September by Russian Federation, which was quickly criticized by coalition members for not targeting the Islamic State. “Russian Federation right now is a coalition of two – Iran and Russian Federation supporting Assad”.

The French leader will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris on Wednesday and with Putin in Moscow on Thursday, before dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the French capital on Sunday.

Hollande met earlier this week with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was set to appear before the House of Commons in London to advocate for Britain to extend its airstrikes from Iraq to Syria.

“All of this prompts us to pool efforts in the struggle with this common evil”, he said.

“He meant to tell me that the United States stood by France, that the help that could be provided to France would have no limit”, Hollande said Tuesday during a joint news conference. “I want you to know that we will continue to do everything in our power to defend our nation”, said the US President.

On bilateral cooperation with France, he said the aim was to “establish constructive work by our military specialists to avoid duplication and avoid strikes on those territories and groups which are themselves ready to fight terrorism”.

Illustrating the leaders’ message on tighter cooperation, France said its warplanes had hit an IS command center near its key western Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, in a strike led with the US Air Force.

While Obama has repeatedly heralded a coalition of more than 60 countries fighting the Islamic State, the U.S.is undertaking the bulk of the direct military action.

“We have a resolution from the Security Council, we must take action against Daesh”, said Mr Hollande, using another name for ISIS.

Putin said Moscow was ready to unite with Paris against a “mutual enemy”, but he reaffirmed Moscow’s long-standing view that Assad and the Syrian government were also allies in the fight against terrorism.

France’s military response to the Paris attacks probably won’t go beyond what the United States is doing in Syria, according to Shurkin.

“This was an attack on our free and open societies, where people come together to celebrate and sing and compete”, he said.

“We have to let the Vienna process play itself out”, Obama said, referring to an agreement among 17 countries that lays out a timeline for a political transition in Syria.