BEIRUT (Reuters) - France called on world powers to "save the Syrian people" on Saturday as it joined the United States and Britain in raising an alarm that President Bashar al-Assad's forces may be about to storm the rebel stronghold of Homs. -excerpt- "There is no policy of crackdown," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi told Reuters in an e-mail. "The Syrian forces are there to protect civilians and maintain law and order that is breached by those who are carrying arms against the State."