BELEK (Turkey), Nov 15 : U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders arrived in Turkey on Sunday for a summit that has taken on new urgency after attacks in Paris pushed the fight against Islamic State militants to the top of the agenda.
Obama, who called the attacks "an outrageous attempt to terrorize civilians" on the eve of his departure, faces the question of how the West should respond now Islamic State poses a clear threat far beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
Washington already expects France to retaliate by taking on a larger role in the U.S.-led coalition's bombing campaign against Islamic State.
But Obama is also seeking to coax other European and Middle Eastern countries into more tangible steps to show their military commitment, a U.S. official said before the president embarked on his nine-day foreign trip. Obama will hold a bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Salman at the summit on Sunday evening, a White House official said. The two leaders committed to increase support for "the moderate Syrian opposition" in a call late last month and affirmed the need to cooperate in fighting Islamic State.
Their last meeting took place in early September in Washington.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama vowed on Sunday to stand by France in hunting down the Paris attackers and to "redouble" efforts to wipe out the Islamic State jihadist network. After a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama said the two leaders agreed to show solidarity with France in tracking down the perpetrators of the Paris assaults and to boost a campaign to "eliminate" the Islamic State group.     ?REUTERS,  AFP