Hollande, Cameron Kick off Bid to Rally Global Support Against ISIS

On a day when Secretary of State John Kerry admitted efforts against ISIS need to be "picked up," French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday joined forces to rally a global effort to crush Islamic State in the wake of the Paris attacks.

"I firmly support the action President Hollande has taken to strike ISIL in Syria," Cameron said after talks in Paris, using another acronym for ISIS.

"It's my firm conviction that Britain should do so too," he added.

Cameron has said he will make his case to the British parliament in the coming days about joining air strikes on Syria. Cameron will propose bolstering the British military and dedicating 10,000 quick-strike troops to the effort.

While Britain has joined US-led coalition strikes on IS in Iraq, it has so far held back from hitting targets in Syria, where the jihadists also hold large swaths of territory.

The British leader also said he had offered France the use of a strategically located British airbase in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, to facilitate air strikes, and assistance with refuelling French jets.

Hollande, who has said France is in a "war" against the jihadists, is embarking on what could be a defining week of his three-year-old presidency.

On Tuesday, he will fly to Washington for talks with President Obama and a day later will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris.

At home, Obama and Kerry have faced blistering criticism for comments made since the Paris attacks that understate the ISIS' threat.

Obama called the Paris attack a "setback." And on Sunday he characterized ISIS as "a bunch of killers with good social media."

On Monday, Kerry admitted the war against ISIS needs to be "picked up."

"ISIS is not 10 feet tall," Kerry said on NBC's "Today." He said he has "absolute confidence" that ISIS will be defeated "with the help of all nations united."

"I don't know where to begin," MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said on Monday. "Democrats don't know where to begin. Foreign policy experts don't know where to begin. [Secretary of State] John Kerry said the same thing. It's much to do about nothing."

Meanwhile, Hollande, speaking before he also meets the US, Russian and German leaders in the coming days, said Britain and France had a "joint obligation" to strike at the jihadist group.

His focus switches to Moscow on Thursday where he will meet President Vladimir Putin, who has pledged to work more closely with the West against IS following the Paris attacks and the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month.

Completing a series of meetings with each of France's fellow UN Security Council members, Hollande will see Chinese President Xi Jinping for a working dinner in the French capital on Sunday.

The Security Council on Friday authorised countries to "take all necessary measures" to fight IS in a resolution that won unanimous backing in the wake of the bloodshed in Paris.

The measure drafted by France calls on all UN member states to "redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist attacks" committed by IS and other extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda.

Hollande said he hoped the resolution would "help mobilise nations to eliminate Daesh", using an alternative name for IS.

The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was steaming to the eastern Mediterranean on Monday to increase France's ability to fly bombing sorties over Syria.

The US-led coalition has been pounding IS targets in Syria for over a year, but France only joined the campaign in September and has concentrated its air strikes on the jihadists' de facto capital, Raqa.

Russia has also bombed IS targets but Moscow has attracted criticism from the United States and others for bombing rebel groups opposed to Moscow's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a key development Monday, Putin arrived in Tehran Monday for his first trip to Iran in eight years.

Iran has been Assad's other main backer since an uprising broke out against his rule in 2011 and escalated into a brutal civil war.

But Moscow's recognition that an airliner that crashed over Egypt with the deaths of 224 mainly Russians on board was brought down by an IS bomb appears to have strengthened Moscow's resolve to put aside differences with Paris and work together against the jihadists.

Material from AFP and Newsmax reports was used in the article.