Obama: 'Skies Darkened' After Paris

ISIS' shadow looms large as G20 summit kicks off in Turkey
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 15, 2015 6:31 AM CST
Obama: 'Skies Darkened' After Paris
U.S President Barack Obama, left, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leave after their press availability in Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015.   (Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama pledged Sunday to redouble US efforts to eliminate ISIS and end the Syrian civil war that fueled its rise, denouncing the group's horrifying terror spree in Paris as "an attack on the civilized world." Opening two days of talks with world leaders in Turkey, Obama pledged solidarity with France in the effort to hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. He said "the skies have been darkened" by the Paris attacks, but offered no details about what the US or its coalition partners might do to step up its assault against ISIS. "The killing of innocent people, based on a twisted ideology, is an attack not just on France, not just on Turkey, but it's an attack on the civilized world," Obama said after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition to the Paris attacks, ISIS is blamed for two bombings in Turkey this year that killed roughly 130 people.

The specter of the Islamic State threat and Syria's civil war hung over the Turkish city of Antalya as Obama and other leaders descended for the Group of 20 summit. In a fresh reminder of the Islamic State's expanding capacity to wreak havoc, five Turkish police officers were injured Sunday when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a police raid near the Syrian border. Although world leaders have offered sweeping condemnations of ISIS following the Paris attacks, they've struggled to offer concrete proposals. Obama said the US stands with Turkey and Europe in the effort to reduce the flow of migrants, and Erdogan predicted a "strong message" on fighting terrorism would come out of the summit. (More G20 stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X