France, US to intensify airstrikes against IS in Syria, Iraq

The United States and France on Tuesday decided to intensify airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and support those fighting against it on the ground.

"We cannot, and we will not succumb to fear. Nor can we allow fear to divide us. For that’s how terrorists win," President Barack Obama asserted at a joint news conference with his French counterpart Francois Hollande after they met at the White House to discuss the anti-ISIS mission.

The two leaders held the meeting to strengthen the coalition against the Islamic State in the wake of the horrific Paris terrorist attack by the dreaded terror group.

Hollande's trip to Washington was part of a diplomatic push to get the US and other nations to bolster efforts to destroy the militant group that has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

Calling for a "joint response", Hollande said France and US would "scale up our strikes both in Syria and in Iraq to broaden our scope to strengthen our intelligence sharing regarding the targets."

Hollande said that France and the United States had agreed to step up a joint response, including new efforts to target terrorists' financial networks, take back IS-controlled territory, scale up efforts in Syria and Iraq and increase intelligence sharing.

"We will not allow them to do it," Hollande told reporters referring to the terrorist strikes in Paris. Obama said, "We are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations."

"This barbaric terrorist group, Islamic State or Daesh, and its murderous ideology poses a serious threat to all of us. It cannot be tolerated. It must be destroyed. And we must do it together. This is the unity of purpose that brings us here today," said the US President.

Obama said it has been noted that the terrorists did not direct their attacks against the French government or military; rather, they focused their violence on the very spirit of France and, by extension, on all liberal democracies.

"This was an attack on our free and open societies, where people come together to celebrate and sing and compete," he said.

"And targeting venues where people come together from around the world, killing citizens of nearly 20 countries, including America, this was an attack on the very idea that people of different races and religions and backgrounds can live together in peace," he said.

"In short, this was not only a strike against one of the world's great cities, it was an attack against the world itself. It's the same madness that has slaughtered the innocent from Nigeria to the Sinai, from Lebanon to Iraq. It is a scourge that threatens all of us," Obama said.

"Given Russia's military capabilities and given the influence they have on the Assad regime, them cooperating would be enormously helpful in bringing about resolution of the civil war in Syria and allow us all to refocus our attention on IS," Obama said.

"But I think it's important to remember that we've got a global coalition organised. Russia is the outlier. We hope that they refocus their attention on what is the most substantial threat, and that they serve as a constructive partner," he said.

"And if and when they do, it will make it easier for us to go after IS and Daesh," he asserted. Hollande said he would be travelling to Moscow this week to meet the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The only purpose is to fight against terrorism and Daesh. This is what we must do, all of us, we, Turkey, Russia. We must find a solution to the Syrian crisis because we can see what the risks are otherwise, the risk of escalation," he said in response to a question.

"I will be travelling to Russia this week because we have this resolution of the Security Council. And it does show that we must take action against Daesh, against terrorism. That resolution has been voted unanimously in a way that was the broadest possible coalition," he said.

"Then I will ask President Putin, as I've done before, what I have told the Russians a number of times already, that the strikes must be against Daesh, against terrorism. And

those who precisely are threatening us, they are threatening the Russians," Hollande said.

Image: US President Barack Obama (right) and French President Francois Hollande listen during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters