Germany, France recommit to fight against Islamic State

Germany now provides only weapons and training for Kurds fighting Islamic State in Iraq.

“There is plenty of goodwill towards France across Europe right now, in part because of a chilling understanding that the massacre in Paris could have happened anywhere”, the Economist wrote Thursday.

Meanwhile, his weight threw behind Hollande’s suggestion to close off the Syria-Turkey border to stop the stream of jihadist fighters.

Concerns about security have also increased since Islamic State jihadists killed 130 people in Paris this month in the worst such attacks on French soil.

Otte said that “the IS can only be defeated militarily, therefore no idea must be ruled out as we engage in the fight against Islamist terrorism”.

Closer US-Russian cooperation would require a “strategic shift”, Obama said, urging Russia to stop bombing other rebel groups opposed to Moscow’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Authorities had detained 16 people during the raid, but released all but one of them the following day.

But he was notably cool on suggestions that the old Cold War foes could work together more closely.

Merkel called the meeting in Berlin – which also included Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen – to consider Germany’s military role in the planned anti-Islamic State coalition being forged by Hollande.

Germany’s participation in the anti-ISIS campaign will include sending between four and six Tornado reconnaissance planes equipped with special infrared cameras to detect enemy positions, as well as a frigate to protect France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier stationed in the Mediterranean.

Putin said that Russia is ready to more broadly coordinate its military action in Syria with the U.S.-led coalition, but he harshly criticized Washington for failing to prevent the downing of a Russian warplane by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey.

French President Francois Hollande, at a joint press conference with Merkel in Paris late Wednesday, welcomed her offer to send 650 troops to Mali to free up French forces, while saying Germany could “engage even more in the fight against ISIS in Syria and in Iraq”.

The decision still needs parliamentary approval, but it was not expected to meet much resistance by MPs.

“We know that this attack wasn’t just intended for the people of Paris, but for our whole way of life”, Merkel said after laying a single white rose at the Place de la Republique, the Paris square that has become the focal point of tributes for the victims.

Belgian and French authorities continued a manhunt for at least two suspects believed directly linked to the killings in Paris.

The lowering of the threat level came as a surprise, since the government had said it would likely keep the highest threat level until Monday.