Hollande heads to Russian Federation to press anti-IS coalition

US President Barack Obama and President of France François Hollande vowed on Tuesday at a White House meeting to strengthen their relations by intensifying the nations’ military attacks on ISIS in the war-stricken Syria and Iraq.

Hollande said the downing of the Russian jet highlighted the need for countries to coordinate their military activities more closely to avoid a possible repetition of what he called a “regrettable incident”. “Syria has broken down; it began to break down the minute that Mr. Assad” started to kill his own people, Obama said.

In NBC Nightly News’s coverage of President Obama’s Tuesday meeting with French President Hollande, the newscast complained that Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian fighter jet had “managed to overshadow” the “crucial meeting at the White House” and further “derailed” an attempt to forge a more cohesive coalition to fight ISIS with Russia. Efforts to train and equip moderate rebel groups in Syria have struggled, and Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special operations forces to jump-start the program.

That skepticism was clear today as both Obama and Hollande told reporters they would welcome Russia’s involvement in the fight, if Moscow were to concentrate its military action on IS.

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

“While Russia sees Syrian President Bashar Assad as a bulwark against terrorism, Obama sees the Syrian president as a recruiting tool for the group”.

Milbank, who was at the press conference, said Obama was “still and contained”, but Hollande stole the show with his sweeping gestures, bringing “Mediterranean heat” to the event while Obama was “Lake Michigan-cool”.

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA MICHAEL MCFAUL: Putin will respond.

“You helped us win our independence, we helped the French to break free from fascism”, said Mr Obama, as usual forgetting to emphasize the crucial role played by the USSR in the liberation of the continent.

Russian Federation was angling for a unified anti-ISIS coalition from the beginning of its air war in Syria, but had been repeatedly rebuffed by the Obama Administration. Until the Paris attacks, France had participated in strikes in Iraq but only a handful of times in Syria, where the Islamic State has its de facto capital.

The president said the U.S. homeland was being protected by the world’s best security professionals, after the State Department on Monday night issued a worldwide travel alert warning USA citizens to be vigilant traveling during the holiday season. Russia, on the other hand, has been Assad’s staunchest ally.

Obama also said that any political transition would be a “long, methodical process” that both the USA and France are committed to. “I hope that translates into action and it’s not just language”, said Philippe Le Corre, a former senior adviser to the French Defense Ministry who is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.