AP, Washington :In a show of Western solidarity, President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to escalate airstrikes against the Islamic State and bolster intelligence sharing following the deadly attacks in Paris. They called on Russia to join the international efforts, but only if Moscow ends its support for Syria’s embattled president.”Russia is the outlier,” Obama said during a joint White House news conference with Hollande.Tuesday’s meeting came hours after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border. The incident underscored the complex military landscape in Syria, where a sprawling cast of countries and rebel groups are engaged on the battlefield and in the skies overhead, sometimes with minimal coordination.Obama said Russian cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State would be “enormously helpful.” But he insisted a partnership is impossible as long as Russia stands by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is blamed by the U.S. for plunging his country into chaos and creating the vacuum that allowed the Islamic State group to strengthen.”We hope that they refocus their attention on what is the most substantial threat, and that they serve as a constructive partner,” Obama said of Russia.Hollande concurred, saying France wants to work alongside Russia, but only if President Vladimir Putin “fully commits” to supporting a political transition in Syria.Hollande’s alignment with Obama was notable, given that he was expected to urge the U.S. president to put aside some of his differences with Russia to build a new coalition to fight the extremists. But Hollande’s mission quickly became entangled with the fallout from the downed Russian military plane.Obama cautioned that information about the incident was still emerging. However, he did say that Turkey had a “right to defend its territory and its airspace.”The White House said late Tuesday Obama spoke with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss the downing of the Russian plane. In the call, Obama expressed U.S. and NATO support for Turkey’s right to defend its sovereignty, and the leaders also agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation and pursuing arrangements to ensure it doesn’t happen again, the White House said.Obama also convened his National Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the response to recent terrorist attacks by the Islamic State group. The White House said the president was told there is currently no specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland from the group.
