"Everything helps move everything else. If we can get a ceasefire, if we can get a political process, that greatly facilitates what we can then talk to Russians and others about, in terms of co-ordination to go after Daesh."
Kerry has been pushing hard to get a ceasefire in place before the end of the year and negotiations started in January. The hopes are to get talks moving towards a political transition in Syria that eventually would unseat Assad. Then, all military efforts can be trained on defeating Isis in its Syrian strongholds.
The strategy was agreed to this month in Vienna during meetings attended by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China.
In Abu Dhabi, Kerry met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the UAE's military chief, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the country's Foreign Minister. He was expected to meet Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, later in the day.
Though critics have accused the Obama Administration of lacking a clear strategy to defeat Isis, Kerry has repeatedly insisted that strides have been made since a 65-nation coalition led by the US coalesced last year.
Kerry plans talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today.
Yesterday's French airstrikes came 10 days after the deadly attacks in Paris that left 130 dead.
President Francois Hollande said earlier in Paris: "We will intensify our strikes, choosing targets that will do the most damage possible to this army of terrorists."
The Charles de Gaulle has 26 fighters, more than doubling France's strike capacity in the US-led mission against Isis.
France already has six Mirage and six Rafale jets stationed in the UAE and Jordan.
A military source said their missions would overfly Turkey or Jordan to avoid Syrian anti-aircraft defences.
The US said yesterday that it had destroyed more than 238 oil tankers controlled by Isis in an airstrike in northeastern Syria after destroying 116 in an airstrike last week, while Russia said yesterday it had hit 472 terrorist targets in 48 hours and 1000 Isis oil tankers in five days.
To avoid crossing paths with Russian planes, France is co-ordinating with Moscow via the US coalition headquarters in Qatar.
French and Russian naval commanders began exchanging information at the end of last week ahead of the deployment to the eastern Mediterranean, where Russia has several ships.
Bomb belt found on Paris street
French police were yesterday examining what appears to be a suicide bomb belt dumped on a Paris street, 10 days after the attacks that killed 130 people.
The vest was said to resemble the belts used by the attackers and was found in a dustbin by street cleaners in the Montrouge district, a suburb which a suspect is thought to have passed through after the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Belgian capital Brussels remained on high alert, and schools and the metro remained closed. They were due to reopen later today but the highest alert level is set to continue for at least another week.
Authorities in Brussels fear Paris-style attacks may be carried out in the city. At least one of the Paris attackers lived in Brussels and there were 16 anti-terror arrests in Belgium after a series of raids on Monday.
- AFP
