PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Foreign Islamists intent on
turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the
ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and
think they are waging a “holy war”, a French surgeon who treated
fighters in Aleppo has said.

Jacques Beres, co-founder of medical charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres, returned from Syria on Friday evening after spending
two weeks working clandestinely in a hospital in the besieged
northern Syrian city.

AMIENS, France (Reuters) – Youths jeered and jostled the French interior minister on Tuesday in the northern city of Amiens, where he met local officials following overnight riots in which police were fired at with buckshot and pelted with missiles.

President Francois Hollande said the state would “mobilize all its resources to combat this violence”, which has shaken depressed quarters of major French cities at regular intervals in the past decade.

PARIS (Reuters) – The Russian ambassador to France said on Friday he believed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had accepted he would have to leave power although only in an orderly fashion, but the Syrian government swiftly denied this.

Ambassador Alexandre Orlov told French RFI radio that Assad, embattled by a rebellion against his rule, signaled readiness to step down when he accepted a recent international declaration which foresaw a transition towards a more democratic Syria.

PARIS, July 14 (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande
marked Bastille day celebrations on Saturday with a pledge to
fight industrial layoffs and clean up French politics, after
watching troops parade down the Champs Elysees as jets streamed
the national colours overhead.

The Socialist leader’s first National Day since winning
office in May was overshadowed by outcry at mass job cuts
announced by carmaker Peugeot and a scandal over his
private life threatening to undermine his image as “Mr Normal”.

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday Peugeot must renegotiate a plan to lay off 8,000 workers to lessen its social impact and accused the carmaker of lying over its intentions and making serious strategic errors.

In a television interview, Hollande said a government rescue plan for the ailing car sector due to be announced on July 25 would include public incentives to encourage consumers to purchase French-made, environmentally friendly cars.

PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) – Foreign powers will probably intervene militarily in Mali after al-Qaeda-linked militants took control of territory in the north of the West African country, France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday.

Regional and Western governments have compared the situation in Mali to Afghanistan, as a mix of local and foreign Islamists have hijacked a rebellion initially launched in January by secular Tuareg separatist rebels.

PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) – Foreign powers will probably intervene militarily in Mali after al-Qaeda-linked militants took control of territory in the north of the West African country, France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday.

Regional and Western governments have compared the situation in Mali to Afghanistan, as a mix of local and foreign Islamists have hijacked a rebellion initially launched in January by secular Tuareg separatist rebels.

PARIS (Reuters) – The Syrian ambassador to Iraq who defected, Nawaf al-Fares, is currently in Qatar, Iraq’s foreign minister told reporters on Thursday.

“He has not defected while in Iraq … He had left Iraq and today he has an interview with al-Jazeera (television) in Qatar,” Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters in Paris, where he was opening a new embassy building.

PARIS (Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday Russia needed to understand that siding with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was futile as a grouping of Western and Arab states try to bring the conflict in Syria to an end.

Speaking alongside French counterpart Laurent Fabius ahead of a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Paris on Friday, Hague said an accord between the five U.N. Security Council members on a potential transition was a “step forward,” but it was now key for international envoy Kofi Annan to ensure it was implemented.

PARIS/ALGIERS (Reuters) – Fifty years after Algeria won independence, France’s new president, Francois Hollande, finally appears ready to express regret over one of the bloodiest episodes in its colonial history.

The trauma of the 1954-1962 Algerian war, in which hundreds of thousands were killed or uprooted, left deep scars in both societies, stalling a potential economic and political partnership that could help revive the Mediterranean basin.