The G20 summit in Turkey's coastal province of Antalya has been
dominated by Friday's suicide bombings and shootings in Paris, which
killed 129 people and underlined the threat posed by the radical
jihadist group far beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The two-day summit brings together world leaders including U.S.
President Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin just 500 km (310
miles) from Syria, whose 4-1/2-year conflict has transformed Islamic
State into a global security threat and spawned Europe's largest
migration crisis since World War Two.
"The horrific attacks in Paris on Friday night, so soon after the
Russian airline disaster and following on from the Ankara bombings
and the attacks in Tunisia and Lebanon, they underline the threat we
all face," British Prime Minister David Cameron told a news
conference.
"We have agreed to take further important steps to cut off the
financing that terrorists rely on, to counter the extremist ideology
of the terrorist propaganda and to better protect ourselves from the
threat of foreign fighters by sharing intelligence and stopping them
from traveling." French warplanes pounded positions held by Islamic State, also known
as Daesh, in Syria on Sunday. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
described it as an act of self-defense following the Paris attacks.
"France has always said that given the manner in which it has been
threatened, not only threatened but attacked, by Daesh, it is
completely normal that it takes the initiative and as an act of
legitimate defense, takes action," he told reporters.
Obama vowed on Sunday to step up efforts to eliminate Islamic State
and prevent more attacks like those in the French capital, while
urging Putin in an informal meeting to focus his military campaign
in Syria on combating the jihadist group.
U.S.-led efforts to fight Islamic State were complicated when Russia
joined the conflict a month and a half ago, targeting what the West
says are mainly foreign-backed fighters battling President Bashar
al-Assad, Moscow's ally, rather than Islamic State.
Cameron, who also held a one-hour meeting with the Russian leader,
said differences in opinion over Assad's future had been enormous
but appeared to be narrowing.
"There are big differences, we don’t hide those, we discuss them.
But it is important in all these instances to have a proper dialogue
with people like him," Cameron said.
U.S. officials said Washington wanted to intensify existing efforts
against Islamic State, including the bombing campaign and arming
Syrian rebels. Obama will meet with European allies at the end of
the summit to try to shore up their common front.
But the officials said there were no immediate plans for any
dramatic shift in strategy such as the deployment of significant
ground forces. The dilemma remained how to rally the coalition
without drawing the U.S. deeper into Syria's war, they said.
INTELLIGENCE FAILURES
Concerned about the "growing flow" of jihadists, leaders at the G20
summit agreed to step up border controls and aviation security,
according to a draft statement seen by Reuters and expected to be
released later on Monday.
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They condemned the Paris attacks as "heinous" and said they remained
committed to tackling terrorist financing channels and freezing
assets.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged leaders at a working dinner
on Sunday to deepen intelligence sharing and said leaders in the
Muslim world must do more to break the perception that terrorism is
affiliated with Islam, presidency sources said.
Turkey has come under pressure from Western allies to ramp up its
fight against Islamic State and tighten control of its 900 km
(560-mile) border with Syria, which the jihadists have used to bring
in supplies and foreign fighters.
But it has long complained about a lack of robust intelligence
sharing and urged the West to provide more information about
potential suspects before they travel.
A senior Turkish official said Ankara had twice notified France
about one of the Paris attackers but had only received a request for
more information after the attacks.
Ismael Omar Mostefai, 29, from Chartres, southwest of Paris, is the
only attacker to have formally been named by police in France. He
was identified by the print from one of his fingers that was severed
when his suicide vest exploded.
Leaders at the summit also affirmed that terrorism should not be
associated with any religion, nationality, or ethnic group,
according to the draft document.
Populist leaders around Europe rushed to demand an end to an influx
of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa in the
hours after the Paris attacks.
"I was surprised how determined the leaders were not to confuse
refugees with terrorists," one senior EU official said, noting the
statement had already been in the works after twin suicide bombings
in October in host Turkey's capital Ankara.
"What happened in Paris only strengthened the language."
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Jan Strupczewski, Lidia
Kelly, Humeyra Pamuk, Orhan Coskun and Asli Kandemir; Writing by
Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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