Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin Go Head-to-Head at G20

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin went head-to-head on the sidelines during the G20 Summit in Turkey, agreeing that the United Nations should broker a ceasefire between the Syrian regime and its opposition group.

Sunday's meeting came on the heels of the terrorist attacks in Paris where more than 120 died.

Obama and Putin came to a consensus for "a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition" before the summit's so-called working dinner to develop strategies to counter extremism, according to The Guardian.

The face-to-face meeting, which appeared on closed-circuit television, was described by The New York Times as animated, with both men leaning in and making hand gestures. The men were joined by Obama's national security advisor Susan Rice and another man who appeared to be a translator.

Russia's air campaign which started in Syria after the two had met during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September has increased tensions between Obama and Putin, said the Times

France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who is standing in at the G20 for president François Hollande, said extremists were trying to start a "civil war" involving the country's Muslin population who are "not at all terrorists," said the Guardian

Fabius said the attacks were against French values and the French way of life and not a protest against the country's military actions in Syria and Iraq.

Putin had talked about supporting the Syrian government and Kurdish forces against Islamic State forces in September, according to Reuters.

"We are mulling over what we would really do extra in order to support those who are in the battlefield, resisting and fighting with terrorists, ISIS (Islamic State) first of all," Putin said in September. "There is (an) opportunity to work on joint problems together."

Reuters reported that a U.S. senior official said diplomacy must be part of the solution in Syria against ISIS.

"The Russians certainly understood the importance of there being a political resolution to the conflict in Syria, and there being a process that pursues a political resolution," the official told Reuters.

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