by Our Foreign Desk

FRANCE said yesterday that it was seeking support from Russia in the fight against Islamic State (Isis) and urged fellow European countries to do more to combat the terrorist army.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that European countries were not “doing many things” against the group.

Paris is involved in US-led airstrikes in Iraq and France will host an international conference on combating Isis on Tuesday.

Now it says that Russia will be included in anti-Isis discussions.

Mr Fabius also criticised the Iraqi government for “ostracising” Sunni communities who could help fight Isis.

France’s call to action came a day after US Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul blamed members of his own party for the rise of Isis.

“Isis exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately,” the Kentucky Senator told a TV interviewer. “They created these people.

“Isis is all over Libya because these same hawks loved Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya. They just wanted more of it.”

• The Syrian  rebel Nusra Front militia declared on Wednesday that the West was not its enemy and that the so-called Khorasan group of senior al-Qaida members was a US fantasy.
• Front leader Abu Muhammed al-Golani said the aim of his group was to bring down President Bashar Assad’s government, but it would retaliate if the US-led coalition continued bombing raids against it.
• Washington claims Khorasan is a special cell within the Nusra Front that is plotting attacks against Western interests.