US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande would meet at the White House here on November 24 to discuss the strategy against the Islamic State group following the Paris terrorist attacks.
“This visit will underscore the friendship and solidarity between the United States and France, our oldest ally,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
“Obama and Hollande will consult and coordinate our efforts to assist France’s investigation into these attacks, discuss further cooperation as part of the 65-member counter-ISIL coalition, and reiterate our shared determination to confront the scourge of terrorism,” Earnest said in a statement using another acronym for IS, which has claimed responsibility for the carnage in the French capital.
At a G20 gathering in Turkey on Sunday, Obama had rejected demands that he put boots on the ground in Syria to fight the IS. He had said that such a strategy would not be sustainable.
“Let’s assume that we were to send 50,000 troops into Syria,” he had said.
Syria’s four-year civil war has now claimed more than a quarter of a million lives and displaced millions of people.