U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday the Islamic State group “will feel even greater pressure” in the coming weeks as the United States, France and other allies increase their efforts against the militants.

Kerry spoke in Paris after meeting with French President Francois Hollande and discussing different ways in which their governments can be more effective in battling the Islamic State group.

The two talked days after a series of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris killed at least 129 people and left hundreds wounded.

Kerry said Hollande will hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington next week on ways to ramp up efforts to target the Islamic State group, or Daesh, the group’s Arabic name.

WATCH: Related video of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

“We are absolutely committed to increasing our efforts in every degree possible – and thoughtfully, carefully,” he said.

“My sense is that everybody understands that with Lebanon’s attacks, with what’s happened in Egypt, with Ankara, Turkey, with the attacks now in Paris, we have to step up our efforts to hit them at the core where they are planning these things, and also obviously to do more on borders and in terms of the movement of people,” Kerry said.

He also highlighted recent gains, saying the militants now control only a quarter of Syria’s northern border and that he is “confident the momentum will pick up.”

‘Without mercy’

Hollande has vowed to strike “without mercy” at the Islamic State group, which has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. Monday night, France launched a second series of airstrikes in two days against IS targets in Raqqa, the group’s Syrian stronghold.

Earlier Monday, he had said the Paris attacks had been planned in Syria.

French warplanes continued bombing Islamic State targets in Syria on Tuesday, hitting the group’s de facto capital in Raqqa. The defense ministry said 10 of its jets took part in the latest airstrikes aimed at a command center and a recruiting site.

Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday that authorities carried out 128 raids overnight.

​That followed even more raids the night before that ended with police detaining 23 people and placing 100 more on house arrest, as well as officials saying they had identified the suspected mastermind behind the deadly assault.

A Belgian national of Moroccan descent, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was named as the possible lead plotter of the coordinated attacks Friday night.

Belgian authorities had sought Abaaoud earlier this year for a foiled terror attack on police.

Police also continue to search for the suspected “eighth” assailant, identified as Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam.

While authorities believe that there were only eight actual attackers – seven of whom were killed – they think about 20 people were involved.

In a rare address to both houses of France’s parliament in Versailles on Monday, Hollande said Friday’s “acts of war … were decided and planned in Syria, prepared and organized in Belgium, [and] perpetrated on our soil with French complicity.”

Hollande called on the United Nations Security Council to rapidly issue a resolution against terrorism.

He also called for building a coalition to defeat IS. In addition to meeting with Obama, Hollandeo said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country confirmed Tuesday that terrorism caused the crash of a Russian airliner over Egypt.

EU response

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that fellow EU members are offering help to France, both material aid and supporting military efforts in other parts of the world that will “free up additional French capabilities.”

After a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mogherini said the action was being done under a never-before-used article in the EU charter that says when one member asks for aid following armed aggression on its territory, the others must help as they can.

“We are going to listen very carefully to what France has to say and analyze what France asks us to do,” German Defense Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen said. “We are all going to do whatever is in our hands to give them our help and support.”

In Geneva, the United Nations urged European countries to refrain from blaming or demonizing refugees following the attacks in Paris.

“We are concerned about reactions by some states to end the programs being put in place, backtracking from commitments made to manage the refugee crisis or proposing the erection of more barriers,” U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

Speed up screening

Speaking on French radio Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said authorities still don’t know if there are accomplices in France and Belgium – or the number of people involved in the attacks, suggesting there may be other assailants on the loose.

Meanwhile, security in France has been sharply ramped up.

Soldiers have been patrolling Paris streets for months – ever since the last set of terrorist attacks, in January. The government now says about 115,000 police, gendarmes and military are mobilized across the country.

Hollande said Monday the country must be able to speed up expulsion of foreigners who present a particularly serious risk to the public and suggested changes to the French constitution, such as allowing the ability to bar a dual national from entering French territory if that person presents a “terrorism risk.”

Hollande said he wants a rapid implementation of “coordinated and systematic controls” of the European Union’s internal and external borders, as well as an agreement by year’s end on an air passenger name registry.

He also said a proposal seeking a three-month extension of France’s state of emergency will be presented to parliament Wednesday.

The last time a French president made a speech in front of both houses of parliament in Versailles was in 2009, when Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the global financial crisis. Such an address is a procedure reserved for constitutional revisions and major presidential speeches.

Chris Hannas contributed to this report from Washington, VOA correspondent Daniel Schearf contributed to this report from Paris
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