Paris attacks: French president vows to intensify strikes against Isis

French President Francois Hollande has vowed to intensify strikes against against so-called Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq amid a renewed international focus in the wake of the attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris. British Prime Minister David Cameron met Hollande in Paris on Monday, 23 November, to discuss the fight against terror and how to cooperate on counter-terrorism.

"We are convinced that we need to continue to strike Daesh in Syria," Hollande told reporters at a press briefing. "We will intensify our strikes and we will chose targets that will yield maximum destruction to that terrorist army and our aircraft carrier that is about to arrive on the zone has been clearly mandated to strike Daesh hard." French warplanes struck their first targets in Syria in late September.

"We need to coordinate our efforts on an external level," Hollande said. "The United Kingdom, like France, participates in the coalition (efforts) in Iraq and we try and make sure that our strikes are the most useful. Yet, we also need to act in Syria."

Cameron said the world was coming together to fight IS, and said that it was his firm conviction that the UK should join air strikes in Syria but that the decision would be up to MPs. "We have discussed how we can further strengthen our counter-terrorism co-operation between our two countries and work together to defeat Isis in Iraq and Syria," he said.

"We face a shared threat and we must share information and intelligence to better defend ourselves from these brutal terrorist attacks. The UK and France are already doing this but today we have agreed to step up our efforts even further and to work more closely with our European neighbours."

The British Prime Minister said he would set out his case to Parliament this week ahead of a vote expected before Christmas.The two leaders laid a wreath at the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed by jihadist attackers.