Spotlight: U.S., France vow unity against terrorism, urging Russia, Turkey to avoid escalation of tension

U.S. President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande pledged Tuesday to stand "united" on counterterrorism and increase efforts to "jointly" destroy the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIL.

The two leaders also urged Russia and Turkey to avoid escalating the tension after a Russian warplane was downed by Turkey.

STRENGTHENED EFFORTS TO DESTROY IS

"As Americans, we stand by our friends in good times and in bad, no matter what," Obama said during a joint news conference with Hollande at the White House.

He stressed the long friendship between France and the United States, saying his country is ready to step up efforts to fight terrorism with its European partners.

Obama just returned to Washington on Monday after a trip to Turkey, Malaysia and the Philippines.

He called the IS a "barbaric terrorist group", saying "its murderous ideology poses a serious threat to all of us" and that the militant group cannot be tolerated and must be destroyed.

"The United States and France stand united, in total solidarity, to deliver justice to these terrorists," Obama said.

Hollande's visit to the United States underscored the urgency on counterterrorism after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks by IS, which killed at least 129 people and injured hundreds of others.

"We cannot succumb to fear," Obama said, after he discussed with Hollande counter-IS efforts. "Make no mistake, we will win, and groups like ISIL will lose."

After Obama's comments, Hollande told reporters that France and the United States had agreed to step up a "joint response."

"Militarily, it is about destroying Daesh (IS) no matter where they are. It is about taking out their financing, hunting down their leaders, dismantling their networks and taking back the land they currently control," the French president said.

"We, therefore, decided, President Obama and myself, to scale up our strikes both in Syria and Iraq to broaden their scope, to strengthen our intelligence sharing regarding the targets we might aim at."

However, Hollande said France will not put troops on the ground in Syria to fight the IS.

MESSAGES TO MOSCOW

Hollande will also visit Russia on Thursday and meet with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, as part of a series of talks to unite international counterterrorism efforts after the Paris attacks.

Both Obama and Hollande said they would welcome Russia's involvement in the fight.

Hollande said he would bring that message to Moscow. "We do not want to exclude anyone," he said.

"I will ask President Putin, as I've done before ... that the strikes must be against Daesh, against terrorism," Hollande said.

However, both Hollande and Obama reiterated their determination to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leave, with Hollande saying "it should be as soon as possible."

"He has been the problem -- he cannot be the solution," Hollande said.

The West blames that Russia is supporting Assad's government and their attacks in Syria target the opposition military groups more than the IS. But Russia denies those accusations.

RUSSIA: "A STAB IN THE BACK"

"My top priority is going to be to ensure that this does not escalate," Obama said.

"It's very important right now for us to make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other to find out exactly what happened and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation," Obama said.

However, Obama stressed that Turkey has the right to defend its territory and airspace.

Earlier Tuesday, a Russian Su-24 crashed in Syria allegedly because of gunfire from the ground, Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying.

According to the Turkish military, the Su-24 had been warned 10 times in five minutes about its violation of Turkish airspace, before two Turkish F-16 jets "interfered."

Following comments made by Obama, Hollande told reporters that "We must prevent an escalation. That would be extremely damaging."

The Pentagon also clarified its position on the incident earlier on Tuesday, saying the U.S.-led campaign against the IS was neither affected by, nor involved in Turkey's downing of the Russian plane.

"This is an incident between the Russian and the Turkish governments," said Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S-led military campaign against the IS.

Russian President called the attack "a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorists."

"When attacked in the air, the plane was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters, one km away from the Turkish territory," Putin said during a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Russia's Sochi.

Putin warned that the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow-Ankara relations as "Russia would not tolerate crimes like what happened today." Endi