Approximately 1,300 French soldiers are part of a UN mission in southern Lebanon, supporting the Lebanese Army and monitoring a ceasefire with Israel. French army leaders call the UN mission in Lebanon more “complicated” than the one in Afghanistan.
They hail from the same community as Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Now Lebanon’s Alawite community is monitoring the situation across the Lebanon-Syrian border with trepidation. FRANCE 24 reports from northern Lebanon.
Significant soldier defections have cast attention on the anti-regime “Free Syrian Army”. But the fledgling rebel force is still far from being a match for the Syrian regular army.
Several Western countries are looking at ways to increase the pressure on Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after the targeted sanctions so far levied on his regime have had little effect on stemming a crackdown on anti-government protests.
Exiled Syrian activists meet in Berlin on Saturday in an effort to shape a practical programme to fight Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as young and veteran opposition activists have been struggling to find common ground.
Since protests erupted in March, it has been young Syrian activists, at home and abroad, making up for the vacuum of traditional reporting in their stricken country. They risk their lives daily with humility, courage and determination.
An inquiry into recently appointed IMF chief Christine Lagarde's actions as French finance minister won't jeopardise her position, lawyers say. The investigation, announced Thursday, will look into allegations of abuse of power.
Muammar Gaddafi is still clinging to power, clashes between rebels and loyalist troops continue and the US has admitted there is a 'stalemate'. French researcher Yves Boyer says military force alone will not end the conflict in Libya.
Around 100 people have been evicted from a building in Paris that once belonged to Tunisia’s former ruling party. The wrangling over the property is seen as reflecting the emerging tensions in post-Ben Ali Tunisia.
Muammar Gaddafi is much better armed than the often rag-tag opposition forces, but with his army carrying outdated equipment and his loyalists defecting in significant numbers, he cannot hold out for ever.
