ISIS threat pulls 2 closer

MOSCOW -- President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are embarking on a tentative path toward closer ties and possible military cooperation, as the rift over Ukraine gives way to common cause against the Islamic State.

After weeks of accusing Moscow of trying to prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad by bombing U.S.-backed rebels, Obama changed his tune Wednesday, praising Putin as a "constructive partner" in a nascent diplomatic effort to resolve Syria's civil war. Putin, too, has issued conciliatory signals, softening his tone about the U.S. and calling for the U.S. and Russia to "stand together" against the extremist threat.

In Paris, the rapprochement comes as French President Francois Hollande asked his countrymen to defy terrorists by living normally, strengthening his calls for coalition to eradicate the Islamic State after bomb and gun attacks in Paris on Friday killed 129 people and wounded hundreds.

"Terrorists steal the lives of innocent people and they also want to suspend ours," Hollande told mayors from around the country in a televised address. "France will remain a country of freedom, of movement, of culture, an active, brave, dynamic country that doesn't surrender to fear."

Hollande also announced he would travel to Washington next week and Moscow two days later to discuss stepping up cooperation against the Islamic State with Obama and Putin.

Speaking on the sidelines of a summit in the Philippines, Obama even raised the prospect of military coordination with Russia -- a possibility that has seemed remote ever since the U.S. cut off military ties last year over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

"If we get a better understanding with Russia about the process for bringing an end to the Syrian civil war, that obviously opens up more opportunities for coordination with respect to ISIL," he said, using an acronym for the extremist group.

Obama suggested that Russia might be reorienting its military campaign in Syria toward Islamic State targets after the downing of a Russian jet in Egypt -- a step the president said "we very much want to see."

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 31 crash that killed 224, and Putin has vowed to hunt down those responsible and punish them.

At a summit this week in Turkey, Putin met with Obama and other Western leaders, showing that the U.S. and its allies need Russia's help to confront the extremist group.

In recent days the U.S. has seen Russia begin focusing some of its strikes on the Islamic State, but the vast majority have targeted moderate rebels fighting Assad, said an official who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Russia's high-intensity air campaign and Putin's influence over Assad gives the Russia a key role in diplomatic efforts to negotiate a political solution. Obama said that for weeks now, Russia has played a helpful role in talks in Vienna that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says could produce a cease-fire within weeks.

While Russia has sought to buttress Assad, the U.S. and its allies insist he can't be part of any future Syrian government. Russia signed on to a diplomatic statement in Vienna on Saturday calling for a "Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition."

But Putin later said the matter must be decided by the Syrians as part of that process. Assad's political future, Putin said, is a "secondary issue," to be decided later.

Assad, in an interview shown Wednesday night, said no political process can begin "before defeating the terrorists who occupy parts of Syria."

He told Italian state television that if Syria's people want presidential elections "there will be no red line" against holding them. Asked how much territory the government still controls, Assad replied, "geographically speaking, the situation changes day by day."

'Life must resume'

In a speech after a seven-hour police siege linked to last week's attacks in Paris, Hollande vowed to work with allies to destroy the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for bomb and gun attacks.

The president proclaimed that France is "at war" with terrorists, but also warned against overreactions.

"We must be implacable against all forms of violence. No xenophobic, anti-Semite, anti-Muslim act must be tolerated," he said.

Hollande also said France should honor its duty to offer protection to refugees who flee countries like Syria and Iraq "because they are being tormented by the same who have attacked us." However, he said France will "do the necessary verifications" to make sure refugees entering the country don't pose a security risk.

A bill to extend France's state of emergency for three months includes a measure that enables authorities to close "any association or gathering" -- which includes mosques and community groups -- that would encourage people to carry out terrorist acts.

The bill is to be debated by both houses of Parliament today and Friday and expected to be voted on by the end of the week.

Hollande stressed that "life must resume in full" and promised extra security to ensure that museums and popular tourist sites can reopen.

"What would our country be without its cafes, concerts, sport events, museums?" Hollande said. "Our duty is to get on with our lives."

As France called for cooperation in fighting the Islamic State, the United Kingdom's Defense Ministry announced it is sending a warship to support French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is being deployed to carry out strikes against Islamic State in Syria.

The HMS Defender will provide air cover for the French vessel, the ministry said in a statement on its website Wednesday.

"This barbaric terrorist organization must be destroyed and it's right that we offer all the support we can to confront them," U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said in the statement. "We will consider any further requests for support from France under Article 42.7 of the EU Treaty following Friday's Paris terror attacks."

On Tuesday, France became the first country to invoke the European Union's mutual-defense clause, in force since 2009, which says that if a country "is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states shall have toward it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power."

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said the Paris attacks strengthen the case for extending U.K. airstrikes against the Islamic State into Syria from Iraq. He's held back from asking Parliament to vote on the issue for lack of cross-party support.

"We cannot dodge forever the question of how to degrade and destroy ISIL in both Iraq and Syria," Cameron told the House of Commons in his weekly question-and-answer session Wednesday, using another name for Islamic State, when opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged him on the need to shut off funding and the supply of weapons to the group. "Yes, we should go after the money and the banks, and cut off supplies to ISIL, but we should not make that a substitute for the action that is required to beat those people where they are."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Russia's military general staff said Russia is developing plans for joint military operations in Syria with France.

Wednesday's statement by Col.-Gen. Andrei Kartapolov came one day after Putin ordered the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which is deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, to cooperate with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

"When the Charles de Gaulle comes to the shores of Syria, joint military work will be organized," he said, according to Russian news agencies.

Kartapolov also said Russian warplanes on Wednesday attacked oil-extraction, transport and refinement facilities in areas controlled by Islamic State militants.

Information for this article was contributed by Vladimir Isachenkov, Josh Lederman, Kathleen Hennessey, Karl Ritter, Sylvie Corbet and staff members of The Associated Press and by Eddie Buckle of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 11/19/2015