Obama says Europe, U.S. must coordinate on Islamic State threat
By John Irish and Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday they agreed to increase air strikes against Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq and coordinate intelligence on domestic threats following the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. In a joint news conference at the White House, Hollande said France's ramped-up campaign against Islamic State after the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris will not include French troops on the ground in Syria. Hollande said he and Obama "shared our relentless determination to fight terrorism anywhere and everywhere," and agreed more needed to be done to combat Islamic State's efforts domestically and in Iraq and Syria, where the group controls wide swathes of territory. Hollande said he and Obama decided to scale up and broaden the scope of air strikes in Syria and Iraq and to strengthen intelligence sharing on Islamic State targets. Obama acknowledged fear among Americans of a Paris-style attack in the United States and urged Europe to share more intelligence on people travelling between Europe and the Middle East. He urged the European Union to implement an agreement to require airlines to share passenger information to stop foreign fighters from entering the United States and Europe. "We can do a better job at coordinating between countries," Obama said. Obama offered to share U.S. tools for screening refugees with France and other European countries. Hollande said the two leaders agreed on the importance of closing the Turkish border to limit the movement of extremists into Europe. Obama noted that under Hollande, France intends to welcome 30,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years. Many Republican lawmakers are critical of the Democratic president's plans to admit over the next year 10,000 refugees fleeing Syria's civil war. "As Francois said, our humanitarian duty to help desperate refugees and our duty to security, those duties go hand in hand," Obama said. Hollande is trying to rally support this week for a more coordinated international campaign to destroy Islamic State. He is due to visit Moscow on Thursday. Obama said that "we are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists." He traced the history of friendship between the two countries dating to the 18th century. He also said that next to his bed in the White House is a picture of him kissing his wife Michelle in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. "Vive la France," Obama added. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Jeff Mason and Julia Edwards; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Will Dunham)
