Obama to huddle with European leaders on Islamic State fight

“Until we get the Syria political situation resolved”, Obama said, “and until (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad is no longer a lightning rod for Sunnis in Syria, and that entire region is no longer a proxy war for Shia-Sunni conflict, we’re going to continue to have problems”.

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength”, Obama said of ISIS.

But USA officials have not yet confirmed whether ISIS was behind the attacks.

Obama and Putin won’t hold another formal meeting in Turkey, but White House officials said they would have plenty of time to talk on the sidelines of the G-20. The White House also expects Mr. Obama to hold informal discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit, which begins on Sunday.

The ABC News interview was recorded Thursday at the White House, hours after the start of a major operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces, backed by U.S.-led strikes, to drive IS out of the northern town of Sinjar. Aside from attending a trio of economic summits, Obama’s key goal for the trip is to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the USA recently struck with nations in the Asia-Pacific and in North America.

The president is supposed to travel to Paris in two weeks for a high-stakes climate conference, though there’s now a few doubt whether that meeting can take place in the French capital, given that securing the leaders could come at the expense of other pressing security matters. In Antalya, Obama will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party pulled off a surprise victory in recent elections but who faces criticism for a crackdown on media freedoms.

President Barack Obama has not supported the idea. European leaders have struggled to develop a coordinated response, with a few countries building fences, reintroducing border controls and fighting among themselves about the relative burden each host nation should bear.

“Despite the changing battle landscape and alterations in [President Barack] Obama’s approach over the past year, Americans’ views on the use of ground troops have not significantly changed”, the pollster said in an analysis of the results.