Leaders vow unity against IS terror
France and the United States yesterday pledged to step up the fight against the Islamic State group, urging Russia to throw its weight behind global efforts to resolve the four-year Syria conflict.
President Francois Hollande met his US counterpart Barack Obama at the White House as the Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane dealt a severe blow to efforts to coordinate the fight against IS.
Speaking 11 days after jihadists killed 130 people in the French capital, Hollande urged an "implacable" joint response to crush the group in Syria and Iraq.
At a joint press conference, Obama pledged America's full support in the wake of the November 13 carnage, switching into Hollande's language to tell him, "We are all French."
"We are here to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to terrorists and those who sent them, and to defend our nations," Obama said.
"Americans will not be terrorised," he said.
Washington and Paris have both stepped up their fight against IS in Syria, with France launching its first strikes from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean on Monday and the US calling for more international cooperation against the jihadist group.
Hollande said he and Obama had agreed to "scale up our strikes both in Syria and in Iraq to broaden our scope to strengthen our intelligence sharing regarding the targets."
Both said they would boost support for forces battling IS on the ground -- while both continuing to rule out any ground intervention.
"France will not intervene militarily on the ground," Hollande said. "It is for the local forces to do so."
Hollande was in Washington as part of a frantic week of shuttle diplomacy as he tries to rally global support for increased strikes against IS, which claimed the Paris attacks.
Both Hollande and Obama reiterated their determination to see Assad step down in order to give Syria a chance for peace, with Hollande saying "it should be as soon as possible."
The French leader will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris today and with Putin in Moscow tomorrow, before dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the French capital on Sunday.
Acting on a French resolution, the UN Security Council last week authorised "all necessary measures" to fight IS.
The US government has issued a worldwide travel alert warning American citizens of "increased terrorist threats" in the wake of Islamist attacks in Paris, Mali, Turkey and elsewhere.
Police in France said they were analyzing what is thought to be a suicide belt similar to those used in the Paris attacks, found without its detonator in a dustbin outside the capital. Telephone data placed key suspect Salah Abdeslam in the area the night of the attacks.
Across the border in Belgium, Brussels entered a fourth day of lockdown over fears of an "imminent" terror strike as the manhunt continued for the Belgian-born Abdeslam.
As the search intensified for the 26-year-old suspect, authorities said a fourth person has been charged in connection with the bloodshed in Paris.
Two others -- Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 20 -- were charged on Monday on suspicion of helping Abdeslam escape to Brussels after the attacks, while a third unnamed person faces charges of aiding him.
France has launched a major security crackdown since the attacks with police searching more than 1,200 premises, arresting 165 people and seizing 230 weapons -- including what the interior minister called "weapons of war."
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