Hollande, Putin agree on ‘closer contact’ in battling IS in Syria

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and French counterpart Francois Hollande have agreed to step up cooperation between their military and intelligence services in Syria after the attacks in Paris and bombing of a Russian plane, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

“It has been agreed to assure closer contact and coordination between the military and security service agencies of the two countries in actions against terrorist groups by Russia and France in Syria,” the Kremlin said in a statement following a phone call between Putin and Hollande.

Hollande will meet US counterpart Barack Obama in Washington on November 24 and then Putin in Moscow two days later to discuss the fight against the Islamic State group after the Paris attacks, his office said.

The French president said in a speech Monday that he wanted to meet the leaders in the coming days to strengthen international coordination against IS, which has claimed responsibility for the carnage in the French capital after a series of terror attacks last Friday night killed 129 people and injured hundreds more.

Meanwhile, Russia struck the Islamic State’s Syria stronghold Raqqa on Tuesday with a “significant number” of strikes that may have included long-range bombers and sea-launched cruise missiles, a US defense official said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow, but Putin earlier vowed vengeance as Moscow confirmed a bomb brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people aboard.

“We are aware that over the past several hours Russia conducted a significant number of strikes in Raqqa, some of which may have included sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers,” said the official, who made the remarks on condition of anonymity.

“While we do not coordinate or collaborate in any way with Russia on its activities in Syria, I can confirm that the Russians did provide us notice prior to conducting these strikes, via the Coalition Combined Air Operations Center in Qatar, in accordance with the safety protocols agreed to in October,” the official said.

“These strikes are not affecting coalition operations, and we have not scrapped any missions as a result,” the official added.

In a meeting with his security chiefs, Putin pledged to ramp up Moscow’s bombing campaign in Syria in response to the attack. But he but stopped short of blaming any one group.

“We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them,” he said.