Obama says Assad must go, pushes anti-IS campaign

US President Barack Obama says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go if the Islamic State group is to be defeated, as he rallies world leaders to reinvigorate the coalition campaign against the jihadists.

A day after clashing with Russian President Vladimir Putin over how to handle the crisis in Syria, Obama hosts a counterterrorism summit at the United Nations to take stock of the one-year air war against IS fighters in Iraq and Syria.

“In Syria (…) defeating ISIL requires, I believe, a new leader,” Obama tells the gathering of some 100 leaders held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Russia snubs the meeting, sending a low-level diplomat after Putin stole the limelight with his UN speech calling for a broad coalition to fight IS that would include Syria’s army.

— AFP