G-20 Summit: Paris Attacks, Terrorism May Take Over Talks

The coordinated terror attacks in Paris Friday night that claimed at least 120 lives are sure to influence the discussion at the Sunday summit of the Group of 20 in Turkey, a gathering of leaders of the world’s top economies. The discussion could put pressure on President Barack Obama to step up the U.S. commitment to fighting the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the Wall Street Journal reported.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks on several sites around Paris, which also wounded 352 people, 99 of them critically. Obama will likely be pushed to invest further in defeating ISIS, a push that many in the U.S.-led coalition have long wanted from the president.

Before the attacks, the White House had intended to say the fight against ISIS was gaining momentum, and Obama also recently said the group had been contained. But any strides made by the U.S. in the fight against ISIS will likely have a shadow cast over them by the fear the group has made itself into a global, sophisticated threat, the Journal reported.

“This attack will change many things in Europe, and many things between Europe and the United States,” Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Washington think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Journal. “Implementing those changes, though, will take months and years.”

At the summit, Obama planned to use recent advances against ISIS in Iraq and Syria to make diplomatic progress, the New York Times reported. After the Paris attacks, Obama pledged to help the French bring the terrorists responsible for the attacks to justice.

ISIS has recently seen setbacks in Syria, where the French launched a series of airstrikes against oil centers controlled by the group less than a week ago. One of the people who saw the gunmen Friday told the Guardian one of them said, "You have killed our brothers in Syria, now we are here," before shooting into a crowd.

While French President Francois Hollande is no longer expected to attend the G-20 summit, the attacks will be discussed in a session that was supposed to be devoted to climate change, USA Today reported. The Paris attacks also likely will dominate a discussion that was expected to be focused on conflict in Syria and refugees flooding Europe.

Before heading for the G-20, Obama met with his National Security Council Saturday for a briefing on the terrorist attacks, the White House said.