Kerry, in Paris, says world must hit ISIL at its core

The civilized world must boost its efforts to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by going after the group at its core, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, as he met in Paris with President Francois Hollande to show solidarity with France in the wake of last week's attacks.

Standing with Hollande at the Elysee Palace, Kerry said the deadly strikes in the French capital on Friday, along with recent attacks in Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey made it clear that more pressure must be brought to bear on the Islamist extremists.

"My sense is everybody understands that with Lebanon's attacks, with what's happened in Egypt, with Ankara, Turkey and attacks in Paris, we have to step up our efforts to hit them at the core where they're planning these things and also obviously to do more on borders in terms the movement of people," Kerry said. "The level of cooperation could not be higher. We agreed to exchange more information and I'm convinced that over the course of the next weeks, (the ISIL) will feel greater pressure."

Hollande plans to visit Washington within the next week to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss further cooperation on fighting terrorism and dealing with the crisis in Syria, which has served as the incubator for the ISIL movement.

Before seeing Hollande, Kerry met with diplomats from the US Embassy in Paris to thank them for their service.

He told embassy staffers that the bonds between the United States and France are stronger than ever and that Friday's attacks were an assault on civilization and common decency.
  todayszaman.com
17/11/15
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