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![Hollande, right, is to meet with Putin next week to coordinate joint missions against ISIL in Syria [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/247589728_8-e1447853833383.jpg)
Hollande, right, is to meet with Putin next week to coordinate joint missions against ISIL in Syria [Xinhua]
But they may also have served to bring together a bigger anti-ISIL coalition which appears more resolved to end the extremist group’s influence and threats in the Middle East and Europe.
On Wednesday, French police launched a pre-dawn raid against Islamic State militants in a north Paris suburb, killing two suspects and arresting seven. Four security officers were wounded.
But the raid failed to capture Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected mastermind of the November 13 Paris attacks and a key ISIL operative who traveled back and forth between Syria and his Brussels home.
Europe is on heightened alert.
On Tuesday night, German police canceled a Germany-Netherlands football match and closed down two stadiums in Hanover amid credible threats of an impending bomb attack.
At the same time, two Air France flights departing from the US to Paris were diverted to Salt Lake City, Utah and Halifax, Canada on threats of bombs on board.
None was found and the flights were later cleared.
International aviation has also been on alert following the downing of the Russian Metrojet Airbus A321 in the Sinai last month. Russian officials yesterday concluded that an explosive device cause the jet to break apart in midair.
The chronology of events – Sinai, Beirut, Paris – appears to have forced erstwhile partners Russia and the US to converge interests and strategies with European allies to take the fight to ISIL.
On Tuesday, Putin announced that Russian aerial and naval forces would closely work with the French forces in the Mediterranean to carry out joint missions against ISIL.
France is expected to deploy several vessels spearheaded by the flagship Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier.
“The French naval group, led by the air carrier, will soon reach your area of operations,” Putin said addressing Russian naval assets in the Syrian port of Latakia.
“We need to establish direct contact with it, and treat it as an ally. We need to develop of a joint action plan for both sea and air operations,” he said in statements carried by Russian media.
The planned joint missions come following a meeting between Putin and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 forum in Istanbul last Sunday.
European media described the meeting as a “thaw” in ties often strained over Syria and the Ukraine in recent years.
According to US State Department officials quoted anonymously by the Guardian, Obama has moved closer to Russia’s proposals on a political process to end the Syrian Civil War.
Speaking from Manila, Philippines, where he is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Obama praised Putin as a “constructive partner” in the Vienna talks which were held last week to find ways to peacefully end the crisis in Syria.
The improved relations between the two leaders appear to have also had a military component: On Tuesday, the Kremlin notified US commanders in CentCom in Qatar of their mission to use strategic bombers to pummel ISIL positions in northeast Syria.
Shifting focus to target ISIL rather than other Islamist groups in Syria has been a key demand in Washington.
The thawing and confluence of military strategy against ISIL also comes just days ahead of meetings between French President Francois Hollande and Obama on the one hand, and Hollande and Putin on the other.
Hollande has specifically said that his meetings on November 24 and 26, respectively, are designed to enhance international coordination against ISIL.
The “thaw” may also be part of an acknowledgment among Western powers that Russia my not be entirely wrong in its approach to Syria and fighting extremists there.
“Western leaders have been forced by a series of their own geopolitical miscalculations, to treat Russia as a partner, rather than a full-time villain, whether they like it or not,” says Danielle Ryan, a journalist and media analyst currently based in Moscow who focuses on US foreign policy, US-Russia relations and media bias.
“With that, we are likely now to see a similar shift in thinking in mainstream Western reporting and analysis of the Syria conflict. It has become clear that defeating ISIS will require international cooperation and that Russia is a crucial party.”
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
