‘Words are not enough’
G20 leaders urged to rally around France as it launches strikes against Islamic State
ANTALYA, TURKEY— World leaders led by U.S. President Barack Obama are stepping up their calls for a united fight against Islamic State extremists, portraying Friday’s deadly attack in France as an assault against all their countries.
And as the international community rallied around France and its president, François Hollande, some leaders pointedly warned that words are not enough.
Obama branded the terrorist incident as an “attack on the civilized world.”
“As we, I’m sure, each said to President Hollande and the French people, we stand in solidarity with them in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice,” Obama said in a Sunday meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the G20 summit.
The U.S. later confirmed that it would work with France to step up its airstrikes against extremists.
France launched “massive” airstrikes on the Islamic State group’s de facto capital in Syria Sunday night, destroying a jihadist training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa, where Iraqi intelligence officials say the attacks on Paris were planned.
Twelve aircraft, including 10 fighter jets, dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest airstrikes since France extended its campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defence Ministry statement said. The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Perisan Gulf, in co-ordination with U.S. forces.
Although issues of economic growth, investment and employment were on the formal summit agenda, talk of retaliation and stepped-up military action dominated the airwaves as the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies gathered in the seaside resort city of Antalya Sunday and mulled their response to the attack.
“This cannot be just another summit. Friday night in Paris the peoples of the free world were attacked by terrorists,” said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, the political body of the European Union.
“We all expressed solidarity but words are not enough. Today it is time to act,” Tusk said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the response to the attacks “needs to be robust, but always within the rule of law.”
The crisis even appears to have brought together Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders have been at odds over Russian aggression in Ukraine but they huddled for 30 minutes here Sunday.
“We remained committed to the coalition. We believe that we do need to be part of the fight to degrade and destroy ISIL.” BILL MORNEAU FINANCE MINISTER
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept a low profile on the issue here again Sunday in contrast to the hardened tone many world leaders brought to the first day of summit in confronting the threat of Islamic State extremists blamed for Friday’s deadly assaults in Paris.
Trudeau used his first foray on the world stage to talk up infrastructure investments and youth as the keys to economic success in a morning ad- dress to a business crowd, and later spoke strongly on the issues of climate change during a session with other leaders.
And his staff noted that the prime minister, on his first international trip since taking office, opened the working lunch with a quip: “This is the best G20 I’ve ever been to.”
Prior to his address to the business audience, he was mobbed for selfies from those in the audience, according to a Canadian Press report.
But Trudeau only spoke on the topic of security when prompted by a reporter during a Sunday morning meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
“Obviously the safety and security of Canadians is a priority for me and my government. I’ve been speaking with our minister of public safety, been speaking with the various po- lice and security agencies to ensure that Canadians are kept safe,” Trudeau said.
“It’s a topic we are engaging with here with the other leaders as well to ensure continued safety for our citizens,” he said.
Trudeau has vowed to end Canada’s combat mission against Islamic State, a commitment that the government has already said will not change despite the attacks.
Still, the terror incident and the calls of other leaders to step up the extremist fight have turned up the pressure on Trudeau to lay out the details of his plans to change the mission, including a timetable when combat will be halted.
“We remained committed to the coalition. We believe that we do need to be part of the fight to degrade and destroy ISIL,” said Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who was left to field reporters’ questions Sunday.
“We will continue with the coalition but in a Canadian stylethat would allow us to do what is the best for the coalition,” Morneau said.
With the tough talk here Sunday came a plea. A top European Union official implored leaders not to give in to “basic” reactions and close their doors to refugees fleeing violence in the aftermath of the attacks.
“We should not mix the different categories of people coming to Europe,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, told a news conference as the summit got set to begin.
“The one responsible for the attacks in Paris . . . is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker,” Juncker said.