'We cannot succumb to fear': U.S. joins France in fight against ISIS

'We will not allow those who want to destroy what we have built ... We need a joint response.'

Following a meeting with French President François Hollande, United States President Barack Obama has proclaimed "total solidarity" with France.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - President Obama believes the declaration of solidarity, alongside his trip to Paris for a climate change summit next week,  represents a "powerful rebuke" to terrorism, adding, "We cannot succumb to fear."

Hollande, who has been attending a series of high-level meetings in an attempt to strengthen his military and diplomatic pressures on ISIS, said, "We will not allow those who want to destroy what we have built ... We need a joint response."

The French president claimed Islamic State supply lines and command centers will be the next targets for the ever-intensifying airstrikes in Syria, but specified France will not be sending ground forces to the area.

On Monday, Hollande paid a visit to the Bataclan theater with British Prime Minister David Cameron before meeting with Germany, Italy, and Russian leaders.

On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters he would not discuss how relations between the United States and ISIS would change, but admitted he "wouldn't downplay the significance of additional expressions of solidarity and support."

Earnest claimed France is "a nation that's concerned about the security situation inside their country ... And they can and should take a lot of solace in knowing the most powerful country in the world has their back and is standing with them in this difficult time."

On Tuesday morning, the meeting between Obama and Hollande will be followed by a news conference, which Earnest said will help with the strategy against ISIS.

"I think they'll also have some tangible conversations about what steps the United States is prepared to take to help them with the security situation in their country, particularly when it comes to intelligence sharing," Earnest noted, adding the French airstrikes over Syria last week were carried out after U.S. intelligence identified targets and provided an American search-and-rescue team should the strike fail.

Hollande continues to confer with Russia, which Earnest believes can lead to a sharing of resources that could potentially integrate "with the international community to defeating ISIL," but remains skeptical following the recent dispute between Turkey and Russia.

"Right now, what Russia is doing is they are undermining our effort to reach a political settlement," Earnest said, "and they are doing that because they are concerned primarily with propping up the failed regime of Bashar al-Assad. And those efforts only undermine our ability to engage the moderate Syrian opposition in a discussion about the long-overdue political transition that even Russia acknowledges is needed and long overdue inside of Syria."

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.