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No-go zones are growing rapidly in the suburbs of all of France's main cities. Shanty towns built by illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East have sprung up in parts of Marseilles and Paris in the last few years. Islamization is everywhere. In hundreds of mosques, imams deliver fiery anti-Western speeches. Churches are vandalized. The number of rapes is rapidly increasing. Groups of veiled women roam the streets and insult the "immodest", unveiled, women. Macron's most important project since he was elected has been the creation of new Islamic institutions destined to adapt France to Islam -- not to...

In a statement, 60 year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to keep the armed forces fit for an ever more difficult task within the financial constraints imposed on it, but was no longer able to sustain that. "In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," he said. ... As well as being an early test for Macron, the departure of France's most senior soldier...

French president announces plan to send artillery, but no ground troops, to combat ISIL in Iraq in August. ___ French President Francois Hollande has said that France will send heavy artillery to Iraq to support the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). An aide to the president told the AFP news agency that France would also send military advisors to train Iraqi forces in using the artillery. Elsewhere, protests erupted in Libya's capital, Tripoli, on Thursday following confirmation by Hollande that French special forces are operating in the country and that three French officers had...

France will send artillery to Iraq and its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to assist the US-led coalition’s efforts in Syria and Iraq in the coming months, but will not deploy its troops in these countries, French President Francois Hollande said Friday. France will also send artillery to Iraq in August to help the Iraqi army fight Daesh terrorists, the President added. "The Defense Council and I made a decision this morning to provide Iraqi forces with artillery as a part of anti-Daesh efforts. The artillery will be delivered in August," Hollande said. The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle...

<p>PARIS (AP) — Pledging "to share a big hug with Paris" and show American solidarity with the French people after last week's deadly terrorist attacks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has touched down in the French capital.</p> <p>Kerry arrived in Paris on Thursday from Sofia, Bulgaria, where he said his trip to France is not an apology for the Obama administration's failure to send a senior official to last weekend's unity march. Rather, he said it is to express the "affection" Americans have for France, which has been on edge since the attacks.</p>

Everyone from Jon Stewart to Ted Cruz has mocked President Obama for not flying to France last weekend. And rightly so. It should have been a no-brainer for any American president to want to be seen by the whole world leading a massive unity march against terrorism in response to what is being called France's 9/11. Obama had a great chance to show America's solidarity with the latest victims of Islamist extremism and stand up for a fundamental Western value like free speech. But he blew it. Many of Obama's most faithful allies are still shocked by his clumsy blunder...

BAGHDAD: France carried out its first air strike against the Islamic State group in Iraq on Friday, boosting US-led efforts to unite the world against the growing threat posed by the Jihadists. More than a decade after Paris famously refused to back the invasion of Iraq, France became the first nation to join the US campaign of air strikes in the war-torn country. “This morning at 9:40, our Rafale planes carried out a first strike against a logistics depot of the terrorist organisation (IS),” President Francois Hollande said. His office said the target was in northeastern Iraq, without specifying exactly...

Paris (AFP) - France, in consultation with its EU partners, is looking at supplying arms to Iraq's Kurds to fight against Islamic State jihadists, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday. "One way or another, they must receive, in a sure way, equipment that will allow them to defend themselves and to counterattack," Fabius told France 2 television from Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. "We will look into that over the coming days but in liaison with the Europeans," he said from the city, which is not far from the IS frontline. France and Britain...

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday welcomed French support for possible military action against the Syrian regime, describing the country as America’s “oldest ally”. After the US’ traditional ally Great Britain ruled itself out of any military strikes against the Assad regime in a parliamentary vote Thursday, Washington has looked in danger of becoming internationally isolated in its efforts to push for a military intervention. However, French President François Hollande reaffirmed his country’s support for military action on Friday, telling French daily Le Monde that he supported taking “firm” punitive action in response to the Assad regime’s alleged...

KONNA, Mali—French special forces edged up to the largest city in Mali's north, entering the airport outside Gao and setting the stage for a battle for a city al Qaeda-backed militants have fortified since April. French and Malian troops on Saturday took control of the airport, as well as the bridge over the Niger River that leads into town, France's Defense Ministry said. A small number of the French forces, said one French spokesman, is leading an attempt to reclaim the 800-year-old city of 90,000, seized last year by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the insurgency's local allies.

UPI) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France says he wants to see victory in Afghanistan but has no plans to send more French troops to that country. Speaking to the Le Figaro newspaper, the French leader said he believes there should be a build-up of more Afghan troops, CNN reported. As for staying on in Afghanistan, Sarkozy told the newspaper: "I answer yes -- and stay to win. "But France will not send one more soldier," he added. "My belief is that more Afghan soldiers are needed. It is them who will be the most efficient to win this war...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday pledged to continue the fight in Afghanistan while attending a state funeral in Paris for the 10 French soldiers killed in a Taliban ambush earlier in the week. Sarkozy, who was accompanied by other French leaders at the funeral ceremony in a church at Les Invalides, said France will not give up its fight against terrorism in Afghanistan "We don't have the right to lose over there, we cannot renounce our values," he said. "We cannot let the barbarians triumph because a defeat at the other side of the world will be paid for...

<p>President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he had no regrets about sending 700 more troops to Afghanistan, after insurgents killed 10 French soldiers, the biggest single loss for foreign forces in combat since 2001.</p> <p>The troops were killed in a major battle that erupted when Taliban insurgents ambushed a French patrol just 60 km (40 miles) east of the Afghan capital on Monday. The fighting has heightened fears the militants are gradually closing in on Kabul itself.</p>

President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Afghanistan to support French troops a day after one of the deadliest attacks on France's forces abroad. Ten French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush by Taleban fighters east of the capital, Kabul. Mr Sarkozy said France was committed to the fight against terrorism, and the mission in Afghanistan would continue.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2008 – Ten French soldiers were killed in Afghanistan when their patrol was attacked by Taliban fighters in Kabul province during fighting that spanned from late yesterday until early today, U.S. officials said. Twenty-one other French troops were wounded in the engagement, which reportedly involved up to 100 insurgents, according to a NATO news release. Afghan security forces were with the French soldiers when enemy fighters attacked. “As I understand it, it was a complex attack involving multiple weapons systems, small arms, mortars, rockets, and [it] lasted for several hours,” senior Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters...

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080722-N-7571S-001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 22, 2008) A French F-2 Rafale launches from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during the first integrated U.S. and French carrier qualifications aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is participating in Joint Task Force Exercise "Operation Brimstone" off the Atlantic coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Snyder/Released) 080721-N-7241L-009 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 21, 2008) A French Rafale M prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during combined French and American carrier qualifications. This event marks the first...

US President George W Bush and France's Nicolas Sarkozy have emphasised the strength of relations between the two countries after talks in Paris. The pair discussed a range of issues including Iran's nuclear ambitions and co-operation over Afghanistan. But correspondents say the mood of the meeting was dominated by the extent to which France and the US see eye-to-eye. Mr Bush is in Paris on the latest leg of his European tour, expected to be his last before leaving office. The visit is seen as a sign of further reconciliation between the US and France, after tensions over Iraq. On...

PARIS - Iran rejected a six-nation offer of incentives to stop enriching uranium on Saturday, prompting President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to jointly warn Tehran anew against proceeding toward a nuclear bomb. "Our allies understand that a nuclear-armed Iran is incredibly destabilizing, and they understand that it would be a major blow to world peace," Bush said at a news conference with Sarkozy at Elysee Palace. The quickly unfolding series of events began in Tehran, where European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana played the role of messenger for the offer from the United States, France, Germany, Britain,...

President Bush heralded a “new era of transatlantic unity” when he arrived in France yesterday, with the location of his speech as significant as its content. By choosing Paris for what White House officials described as “the centrepiece” of his week-long farewell trip to Europe, Mr Bush sought to put the seal on a dramatic transformation in relations with France since President Sarkozy was elected last year. Britain, which for so long has acted as a sometimes rickety bridge across the Atlantic, no longer has such strategic diplomatic importance. President Bush is spending two nights in Paris, but only one...