French President Francois Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin remained at odds over the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad but agreed to share intelligence information and cooperate on selecting targets in the fight against ISIS. Putin said Moscow was ready to unite with Paris against a "mutual enemy," but he re-affirmed Moscow's long-standing view that Assad and the Syrian government were also allies in the fight against terrorism. "I believe that the fate of the president of Syria must stay in the hands of the Syrian people," Putin said, in stark contrast to Hollande, who insisted Assad could play no future political role in the country. Hollande, however, underlined that "from France's view, it's clear that Assad does not have his place in Syria's future," while Putin said that the Syrian leader's future "should be in the hands of the Syrian people." Speaking after a working dinner in the Kremlin with Putin, Hollande said they had agreed to target only ISIS and similar militant groups in Syria. The West has accused Moscow of targeting mostly Western-backed rebel groups fighting Assad. "What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh [ISIS] and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism. We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit," Hollande told a joint news conference with Putin. France will also increase its support to rebel groups battling ISIS on the ground in Syria, Hollande added. Hollande is on a diplomatic offensive to build a common front against the militant Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people. ISIS has also said it downed a Russian plane on Oct. 31 over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, killing all 224 people on board. Hollande said he and Putin agreed to "increase information and intelligence exchange, intensify airstrikes against Daesh, which will be subject to a coordination to increase their efficiency" and make sure that "the forces combating Daesh and other terrorist groups must not be targeted by our actions." Putin specified that Russia is ready to both cooperate bilaterally with France and with the U.S.-led coalition as a whole on the choice of targets, so that to "determine the territories which could be struck, as well as those that must be spared, exchange information on various issues and coordinate action on the battlefield." Both Russia and France have stepped up their aerial bombing campaigns in Syria since the attacks in Paris. Putin and Hollande Thursday stressed the need to step up airstrikes against vehicles transporting oil across territory controlled by ISIS and thereby deliver a blow to a key source of financing for the militant group. Putin used the opportunity of the joint news conference with Hollande to repeat his accusations against Turkey of turning a blind eye to oil smuggling by ISIS. He said it was "theoretically possible" that Ankara was unaware of oil supplies entering its territory from ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, but added that this was hard to imagine. Relations between Russia and NATO member Turkey have deteriorated sharply since Turkish forces downed a Russian warplane Tuesday. Hollande said the downing of the Russian jet highlighted the need for countries to coordinate their military activities more closely to avoid possible repetition of what he called a "regrettable incident." He again called for a "de-escalation" of the tensions between Moscow and Ankara.Putin also said Russia would keep cooperating with the United States and its partners to fight ISIS in Syria, but that cooperation will be in jeopardy if there are any repeats of the shooting down of the jet. Putin held the U.S. responsible for failing to rein in its ally, saying that Russia had informed the U.S. about its military flights in advance in line with a recent agreement between Moscow and Washington aimed at preventing clashes between their aircraft. As the leader of the anti-ISIS coalition, the U.S. should have made sure that the Russian warplanes aren't targeted by its members, Putin said. "We proceed from the assumption that it will never happen again," he said. "Otherwise we don't need any such cooperation with any country." In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet decided in the wake of the Paris attacks to send reconnaissance aircraft, tanker planes and a warship to help in the fight against ISIS. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters that the government had also agreed to provide satellite surveillance. During Merkel's visit in Paris Wednesday, Hollande had said it would "be a very good signal in the fight against terrorism" if Germany could do more against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Von der Leyen said the warship would help protect France's aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean and the tanker planes could help refuel French warplanes in the air. The satellite surveillance could provide important information on ISIS and also help protect civilians with precise information.
