Obama, Hollande vow ‘unwavering commitment’ against Islamic State: White House

Obama and Hollande spoke shortly after the deadly, coordinated attacks that claimed the lives of 129 Parisians, and again on the edges of the G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey on Saturday.

Moscow began airstrikes it said targeted the IS group and other extremists in Syria on September 30.

“It would be more effective if we are exchanging information and working together to attack Daesh (the Arabic term for ISIS)… but we’re not there yet”.

President Barack Obama would veto a proposal from Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives for additional scrutiny of refugees from Syria or Iraq, the White House said on Wednesday.

“That is what is going to allow us to refocus our energies on ISIL as a unified world”, Obama told reporters in the Phiippines, using the administration’s preferred acronym for the terrorist group.

French president Francois Hollande will travel to Washington D.C. and Moscow next week to try and build up a coalition against the Islamic State, France’s Prime Minister Manuels Valls said Tuesday. Mr Putin had on Tuesday instructed the Russian Navy to work with French vessels as allies – perhaps one of the first steps towards France’s desired military alliance.