Obama-Hollande talks complicated by Russian plane incident

Barack Obama and Francois Hollande have opened talks about expanding the international campaign against Islamic State, an effort likely to be complicated by Turkey’s downing of a Russian war plane.

The French president’s trip to Washington is 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, which killed 130 people.

He planned to urge Mr Obama to work with Russia to build a new coalition to fight the extremists.

Even before the incident between Turkey and Russia, Mr Hollande faced a tough challenge in getting Mr Obama to agree to a partnership with Moscow.

The US is deeply sceptical of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s motivations, given his long-standing support for Syrian president Bashar Assad.

Mr Obama and Mr Hollande did not comment on the downing of the Russian plane as they appeared briefly before reporters on Tuesday morning. The two leaders were to hold a joint news conference after their private talks.

US forces were not involved in the air incident, according to an American military official.

Nearly five years of clashes between Assad’s government and rebel forces have created a vacuum that has allowed Islamic State to thrive.

The group appears to now be focusing on targets outside its base in Syria and Iraq, including attacks in Lebanon and Turkey and the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt.

Mr Obama is now facing increased pressure at home and abroad to ramp up US efforts to destroy the militants. So far, he has mainly focused on getting other countries to offer more counter-intelligence, humanitarian and military assistance.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: “The United States is certainly pulling more than our own weight. And we believe that there is more that can be done if countries are willing to contribute additional resources.”

The US campaign has centred largely on launching air strikes, while training and assisting security forces on the ground in Iraq.

Efforts to train and equip moderate rebel groups in Syria have struggled, although Mr Obama has authorised the deployment of 50 special operations forces to the country to jump-start the programme.

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

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

From Washington, Mr Hollande will travel to Moscow for meetings with Mr Putin.

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