Germany’s Merkel vows more support for France after attacks

Germany pledged to stand beside France in its fight against Islamic State jihadists, as French President Francois Hollande prepared to visit Moscow as part of his whirlwind diplomatic tour in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel pldged to help France in the fight against Islamic State, saying that Germany is ready to strengthen its military commitment in global hotspots to free up French forces. “It has to be defeated militarily”, Germany’s chancellor said.

Hollande will take his pleas for closer cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking parliamentary support for extending air strikes from Iraq to Syria.

French gendarmes patrol the Place de la Republique in Paris on November 22, 2015 as people gather to …

Hollande was also expected to turn to Merkel to try to ease tensions between Russia and Turkey after the downing of a Russian warplane at the Turkish-Syrian border on November 24.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile threw his weight behind Hollande’s initial proposal to close off the border between Syria and Turkey to prevent the flow of potential jihadi fighters across the border.

“We can’t take in more refugees in Europe-that’s not possible”, Mr. Valls said in an interview with several European newspapers, according to Wednesday’s edition of German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

“We have a responsibility, we have in particular a duty”, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the deputies Wednesday morning, referring to the military intervention in Syria.

Obama agreed to intensify air strikes on the jihadists that USA jets have already been carrying out for months and said he would increase intelligence-sharing.

Back in Europe, the manhunt continued for Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, while Brussels entered a fourth day of lockdown amid fears of an “imminent” attack.