Presidential Candidates Clash Over ISIS Strategy.
BLITZER: Welcome back. We're following the breaking news. CNN learning within the past hour that a nationwide operation is happening in France as we speak. Elite counterterror police units raiding neighborhoods in three major cities. A crack down coming as France is still trying to comprehend a Friday night massacre that killed 129 people. President Francois Hollande called the ISIS terror attacks an act of war and today French fighter jets retaliated and kind of unleashing a major bombardment in the ISIS strong hold of Raqqa, Syria. Meanwhile, world leaders are gathered in Turkey right now for the annual G-20 Summit with a renewed sense of urgency. Earlier a stunning moment when President Obama and the Russian President Vladimir Putin huddled for over half an hour in a hotel lobby. Look at this, these pictures. CNN's chief white house correspondent Jim Acosta is in Turkey for us at this G-20 Summit. He's following all the Developments. Jim, what's the latest?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the battle against ISIS appears to be entering a new phase with France retaliating against the terror group and President Obama vowing to ramp up U.S. efforts and there's signs Mr. Obama could have a new partner in the war on ISIS, Russia's President Vladimir Putin. It was a moment of silence before a rare display of unity on the world stage that now is the time to stamp out ISIS.</s>BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: The skies have been darkened by the horrific attacks that took place in Paris.</s>ACOSTA: With his G-20 Summit sounding more like a war council than an economic conference, President Obama and other wold leaders vowed to intensify the battle against the terrorist army.</s>OBAMA: We will redouble our efforts working with other members of the coalition to bring about a peaceful transition in Syria.</s>ACOSTA: The Paris attacks may also be bringing together longtime adversaries during an intense 35-minute meeting in front of the cameras, President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a political transition process in Syria where ISIS has exploited a bloody civil war. After weeks of accusing Russia of acting in Syria on behalf of its leader Bashar al-Assad, the White House praised Moscow's strikes against ISIS. The soft and diplomatic language comes after Putin said and a message to the French people "for effectively fighting this evil, the entire international community should unite efforts." The White House is eager to show Mr. Obama on the move against ISIS after the president said days before the Paris attacks that the terror group had been contained. An assessment the administration defends.</s>BEN RHODES, W.H. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What we've been able to do is stop that advance and reclaim territory, going on the offense with our partners on the ground.</s>ACOSTA: There are also new questions about the Syrian refugee crisis after French officials determined one of the Paris bombers posed as a migrant fleeing the war-torn country. The Obama administration says those refugees must still be vetted and welcomed.</s>RHODES: We cannot close our doors to these people.</s>ACOSTA: While the White House is promising to intensify the battle against ISIS, there is no major strategy shakeup under way. The Obama administration says it's still not considering expanding its ground game in Iraq and Syria saying U.S. Forces are not the solution to the problem. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Jim Acosta reporting for us from the G-20 Summit in Turkey. I want to get right to our global affairs correspondent Elise Labbott joining us from Washington. Elise, we know the U.S. has been sharing targeting data with France. The White House has also promised to intensify its own battle against ISIS. What does all this mean big picture as far as the U.S. is concerned?</s>ELISE LABOTT, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, wolf, when President Obama says he's going to intensify the campaign in Syria, I think it means that it's going to be a stepping up of what they already did. You saw about a week or so ago President Obama ordered about 50 special troops to -- special operations troops to Syria to work with Syrian Kurds and other Arab group as they launch their offensive on that ISIS stronghold in Raqqa, and they're also working with the Peshmerga. You saw the U.S. was involved in Sinjar Mountain the other day with the liberation of that mountain. They're trying to choke off these ISIS supply routes and try and make it dense against the group. As Jim said, you're also going to see I think an effort to deepen cooperation with Vladimir Putin. You know, ISIS -- Moscow is definitely in ISIS crosshairs now after the downing of that Russian airliner last week. So I think that there's an effort now to intensify on the ground in Iraq and Syria, but Wolf, as we've seen in Paris, in Egypt, also this week in Beirut, ISIS took responsibility for a number of explosions there. ISIS has already moved on in a little bit in effect from Iraq and Syria. They have their territory there but the new concern is this global rise of ISIS and these affiliates and I think that's what the U.S. is going to start focusing its attention on. How do they get more of a global handle on this group, Wolf?</s>BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Elise, for that. I want to talk more about the evolving U.S. strategy dealing with ISIS. Joining us, are CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen and former National Security Council Official Farah Pandith. Farah, what about a no-fly zone? I know the debate is intense right now. Hillary Clinton, for example, the former secretary of state thinks the U.S. should impose one of the President of the United States, President Obama, is resisting. Would that make a major difference if the U.S. were to impose a no-fly zone?</s>FARAH PANDITH, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL: So whatever choices they make, it's about breaking the momentum. And they have to focus on that one. We think about the appeal of ISIS. So I know that there are a lot of varying opinions on what's going to work and I'll leave it to the military folks to decide on that. But what I know for sure is that the momentum has to be broken in both in the physical war and in the emotional and psychological war.</s>BLITZER: Peter, these attacks, these ISIS terror attacks in Paris, they were clearly highly coordinated, nearly simultaneous, very sophisticated. Took materials that it took pretty intense logistical work to map it all out for all these targets. Have we seen this kind of planning from ISIS, not Al-Qaeda, but from ISIS before?</s>PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think quite on this scale but I mean they have conducted multiple attacks and in other -- I mean, just the recent Beirut attack was double suicide attack. They killed 43 people. They conducted an attack in Ankara that involved probably more than one attacker that killed something like 100 people about a month ago. So I mean this is -- yeah, I mean this is something that's on a new scale but yeah, I think it's important to realize that they have conducted essentially mass casualty attacks outside Syria and Iraq already when, of course, the Russian attack against the Metrojet was, you know, somebody had to smuggle that plane, or the bomb, that's not an easy thing to do even in a place like Sharm El-Sheikh where the security was shaky. It was still you know, to get any bomb onto a commercial flight shows a level of sophistication.</s>BLITZER: You know, I think it's pretty clear, Farah, that there is some level of cooperation with some of the moderate Arab states right now. I think it's significant, for example, that these French fighter jets took off from bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Here's the question. How do you get all of these moderate Arab states more directly involved in fighting ISIS?</s>PANDITH: Look, I think this is about Muslims and Muslim majority countries as well as states in which Muslims live as minorities. You cannot look at this as if we just checked down a list of the nations that have the most Muslims taking part. Optically, it sounds really great but the fact is that this is a global war that we're facing. Both in the physical space and the ideological space. So what we need to see is the same kind of international effort that comes to the table. And by the way, ISIS is recruiting in every country in the world, so being able to convince a state to take part in this, just means we need to be looking at how that state thinks about their own populations and the vulnerability of their youth.</s>BLITZER: You think what happened in Paris, Peter, will help ISIS in their recruitment of these young people?</s>BERGEN: I think basically, yes, because, I mean, many of the things that turn off anybody watching this show, any civilized person, are the very things that appeal to some of these ISIS recruits. The beheadings of people accused of sorcery. The throwing homosexuals off tall buildings to their certain deaths, the beheadings, all these things we find appalling are the very things that are attracting the relatively small group people who are joining I mean there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. 30,000 have come to join ISIS. It's a tiny, tiny number, proportionately, but not insignificant. And they are, you know, they're not turned off by the terror and the appalling tactics.</s>BLITZER: Peter Bergen, Farah Pandith, thanks very much for joining us. Just ahead, as the French conduct a major anti-terror operation right now, throughout France, U.S. intelligence is working to uncover any new ISIS attacks that might be in the works in the United States. We're getting new details on what's going on. We'll also get some perspective from a former CIA insider.