Tag Archives: France

Defense Minister Le Drian said France plans to expand its military presence in Africa, with the permanent deployment of 3,000 troops to bases in Niger, Mali and Chad, and to a logistics base in Ivory Coast and a special forces base in Burkina Faso. He said the work of cracking down on extremists in Libya […]

The Toulouse prosecutor said two 15-year-old French boys have left France for jihad in Syria. President Hollande said some 700 French nationals and residents have traveled to Syria for jihad, and Interior Minister Valls said 20 of them have died there.

President Hollande said the French contingent of 650 troops in Central African Republic will be doubled within days, but that the intervention would differ from the Malian one, as in CAR, France will serve as a “gendarme.” Foreign Minister Fabius said the CAR operation was to help stem mounting sectarian violence, and Defense Minister Le […]

To support an African peacekeeping force, France will triple the amount of soldiers it has in CAR to over 1,000 for six months. France’s ambassador to the UN predicted that the intervention will probably be easier than the one in Mali. France also has a military presence in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, and Gabon.

A former member of France’s DGSE spy agency dismissed the claim made by a British anti-racism group in a recent report that French intelligence considered killing hate preacher Abu Hamza in England in the late 1990s. Foreign Minister Fabius said France may begin lifting Iran sanctions in December. France may increase increase its troop presence […]

Intelligence officers arrested four men in the Parisian suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine who are suspected of running a recruiting network for jihadists in Syria. Two of the men had fought with the Al Nusrah Front. Interior Minister Valls said in September that over 100 French people have gone to join the Syrian rebels, but a source […]