Obama urges Erdogan to de-escalate tensions with Russian Federation

“We can not succumb to fear”, Obama said, standing alongside French President Francois Hollande after they met at the White House to discuss the anti-ISIS mission.

Hollande’s visit to Washington is part of a diplomatic offensive to get the worldwide community to bolster the campaign against the Islamic State militants.

France has stepped up its airstrikes following the Paris attacks, relying in part on US intelligence to hit targets in Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s stronghold in Syria.

Both Obama and Hollande said they would welcome Russia’s involvement in the fight. The terror group is blamed for the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more at restaurants, a concert venue and outside a soccer stadium.

Beyond their discussions on military cooperation, Obama and Hollande are expected to discuss diplomatic efforts to achieve a political transition in Syria.

Hollande’s brief visit to Washington is one of several meetings between top leaders after what many referred to as the “wake-up call” of the Paris attacks as well as last Friday’s deadly siege of an worldwide hotel in Bamako, Mali.

“The strikes against Daesh (IS) will be intensified and be the object of coordination”, Hollande said at a press conference with his Russian counterpart yesterday, adding that the strikes would focus on the transportation of oil.

“France isn’t looking for more than the USA can accept and welcome, which is more Russian strikes against Islamic State and less Russian strikes against rebels”, de Gilbert said.

“When attacked in the air, the plane was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters, one km away from the Turkish territory”, Putin said during a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Russia’s Sochi.

The French president will meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Paris in the morning, before heading to Moscow where he will hold talks with the Russian strongman.

The White House said later on Tuesday that Obama spoke by phone with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan about the need to de-escalate tensions after the incident.

The U.S.-backed coalition has been bombing ISIS for more than a year.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish military downed a Russian Sokhui Su-24 Fencer jet, claiming that the aircraft had repeatedly violated the country’s air space.

Further dampening prospects of U.S.-Russian cooperation, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey, shot down a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday.

Putin said though Russian Federation was still committed to cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition conducting military operations in Syria, and was working to form a broader global coalition that could agree on a way to resolve Syria’s conflict.

President Obama has been more publicly skeptical of Moscow’s role.

“Russia has long known heavy terrorist acts and therefore we can sympathize with your losses”, Putin said.

“We made a decision to scale up our strikes both in Syria and Iraq, to broaden their scope and to strengthen intelligence sharing”, Hollande said.

“Apparently, Hollande will bring to Moscow some settings received in Washington, however, Russian Federation has its own position on this issue”. Clinton and numerous Republican presidential candidates have gone further, calling for the creation of no-fly zones to prevent the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad from assaulting civilians and opponents from the air.