United States has 'contained' IS group: Obama

The United States, long accused of taking an incremental approach to the struggle, is under growing political pressure at home and overseas to do more and it is expected to examine ways to intensify the campaign, including through expanded air power.

The official economic agenda in Turkey and Asia was already likely to be overshadowed by a series of intense meetings between Obama and his counterparts about the Syrian civil war, the refugee crisis in Europe, disputes with President Vladimir Putin of Russian Federation and ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. Before the Paris attacks, aides to Obama had expressed hope for what they called "incremental" movement during the president's discussions, but they cautioned that negotiations would need to continue beyond the president's trip to the region.

The IS claim of responsibility for the attacks was made in a statement in Arabic and French released online and circulated by supporters of the group.

In the past two weeks, there have been other major Islamic State-claimed attacks.

With a steady flow of radicalized foreign fighters traveling to places such as Syria and then returning - in addition to the considerable number of homegrown ISIS sympathizers in many European countries - the militant Islamic organization is finding it easier to support and encourage these kind of attacks, experts say.

Obama, who called the Paris attacks "an outrageous attempt to terrorize civilians" on the eve of his departure, faces the question of how the West should respond now that it has become clear that Islamic State poses a threat far beyond its militant strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

"It is a game changer in this sense: there were those who debated whether the Islamic State would stay focused local - or go global".

"I don't think anybody expects a single outcome that all of a sudden readily resolves all these hard issues", she added.

President Barack Obama's response to the terror attacks in Paris can be watched above.

The President directed his team to take all appropriate measures to ensure the security of U.S.Embassy personnel in Paris and across Europe.

"This is the war of our time, and we have to be serious in engaging and creating a strategy to confront it and take it out", former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told radio host Hugh Hewitt Friday night.

France, which has described the Paris assault as an act of war, can quickly ramp up its contribution to the air campaign against Islamic State targets. This is an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share. France has been part of the coalition against ISIS; its role will now be much greater.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum joined in the criticism of the White House - firing simultaneously at a few Republicans - backing the U.S. Syrian refugee plan.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO also weighed in on Syrian refugees, saying she was "angry that President Obama unilaterally decides that we will accept in this nation a 100,000 Syrian refugees while his administration admits we can not determine their ties to terrorism". Talks are also underway about whether allies might deploy special operations forces, in Iraq and Syria. Such pressure has been steadily growing with precision strikes in recent months.

The United States has been successful in containing the momentum of ISIS, but more needs to be done to "completely decapitate" their operations, President Obama said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.

US officials say such strikes show the United States could widen the field of battle.

"The scale and magnitude of the attacks demonstrate the continuing threat of terrorism stemming from radicalised and militarised segments of the French diaspora and migrant communities driven by the developments in North Africa and the Middle East".

Marco Rubio called for bombing attacks on ISIS training camps in an effort that would be led -- and filmed - by special operations forces.

The Paris attacks come at a critical juncture in the battle against ISIS and draw eerie parallels to the al-Qaeda attacks in 1998 against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as well the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 1999 off the coast of Yemen.

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