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France Tells Syria Anti-ISIS Fight is Its 'Absolute Priority'

People sit in a truck after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS militants, outside Baghouz, Syria, Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrea Rosa)
People sit in a truck after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS militants, outside Baghouz, Syria, Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrea Rosa)
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France Tells Syria Anti-ISIS Fight is Its 'Absolute Priority'

People sit in a truck after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS militants, outside Baghouz, Syria, Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrea Rosa)
People sit in a truck after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS militants, outside Baghouz, Syria, Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrea Rosa)

France's foreign minister said Thursday that sustaining the fight against the ISIS group is an "absolute priority" for Paris, after meeting his Syrian counterpart in Damascus.

Jean-Noel Barrot is on the first stop of a regional tour as France reassesses how to tackle militants after Kurdish allies in Syria, who were guarding detained ISIS militants, were forced to disband under pressure from Damascus, AFP reported.

Barrot will move on to Iraq on Thursday afternoon before heading to Lebanon on Friday, according to the French foreign ministry.

In the Syrian capital, he met his counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani, with the pair discussing how to prevent a resurgence of ISIS militants after the Kurdish forces' withdrawal from swathes of northern Syria.

"For 10 years, France has fought relentlessly and mercilessly against the terrorists of ISIS in Iraq as well as in Syria," said Barrot.

"I have come to reaffirm this absolute priority of France here in Syria."

Until now, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had been the main partner on the ground of a western anti-militant coalition, but under military pressure from Damascus they are to integrate into the Syrian army.

"This tour stems from the convergence of two crises," a French diplomatic source told AFP, referring to Barrot's trip.

"One that erupted very recently in northeastern Syria, with clashes between the Syrian authorities in Damascus and the Kurdish-dominated SDF, and the ever-present threat of a military escalation between the United States and Iran."

Other issues on Barrot's agenda will be the question of integrating Syria's myriad minorities into its new political landscape.

France has positioned itself as an advocate of Kurdish rights and will be pushing Damascus to comply with an agreement announced last week aimed at integrating Kurdish institutions and forces into the Syrian state.

The agreement dashed the Kurds' hopes of retaining an autonomous zone they had established in northern and northeastern Syria during a civil war that ravaged Syria between 2011 and 2024.

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Arab World

Israel Strikes Near Tyre in South Lebanon After Warnings

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern coastal city of Tyre on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern coastal city of Tyre on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Strikes Near Tyre in South Lebanon After Warnings

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern coastal city of Tyre on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern coastal city of Tyre on March 7, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military on Saturday struck three buildings in the suburbs of the southern city of Tyre after ordering residents to flee, Lebanese state media said.

AFP footage showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from buildings that Israel said Hezbollah was using.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that "Israeli warplanes attacked the three buildings that it had identified and threatened".

Israel's military on Saturday warned residents in a district of Lebanon's Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, and reiterated a demand for people to leave the area south of the Litani river.

The Israeli military said it would "soon strike military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization" in the Zuqaq al-Mafdi area of the southern city of Tyre.

In a separate warning, a military spokesman later urged those remaining south of the Litani, an area covering hundreds of square kilometers, to move north, repeating a call the military gave on Wednesday.

"Strikes are ongoing as the army is operating with great force in the area," the statement said.

"For the sake of your safety you must leave the area immediately."

Many residents of villages in the area had already fled northwards since the first Israeli warning.

Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon and conducted many air strikes on the country this week after Hezbollah joined its ally Iran in attacking Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

It struck Tyre on Friday, in an area adjacent to a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to the NNA.

Hezbollah on Saturday warned residents in a part of northern Israel that it was going to strike the area.

Lebanon's health ministry on Saturday said Israeli attacks on the country had killed almost 300 people since the start of the war with Hezbollah on Monday.

Arab World

Lebanese Army Says Soldier Wounded by Gunfire from Syria

Vehicles line up at Jdeidat Yabous border crossing with Lebanon, amid an increased cross-border movement in Jdeidat Yabous, 45 kilometers west of Damascus, Syria, 03 March 2026. (EPA)
Vehicles line up at Jdeidat Yabous border crossing with Lebanon, amid an increased cross-border movement in Jdeidat Yabous, 45 kilometers west of Damascus, Syria, 03 March 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanese Army Says Soldier Wounded by Gunfire from Syria

Vehicles line up at Jdeidat Yabous border crossing with Lebanon, amid an increased cross-border movement in Jdeidat Yabous, 45 kilometers west of Damascus, Syria, 03 March 2026. (EPA)
Vehicles line up at Jdeidat Yabous border crossing with Lebanon, amid an increased cross-border movement in Jdeidat Yabous, 45 kilometers west of Damascus, Syria, 03 March 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon's military said on Saturday that a soldier was moderately wounded by gunfire coming from Syria a day prior in the country's northeast.

"A Lebanese soldier sustained moderate injuries as a result of gunfire from the Syrian side targeting a Lebanese army post in the Qasr-Hermel area," the military said, adding that "soldiers at the post returned fire".

"An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident in coordination with the relevant Syrian authorities."

On Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa informed him that Syrian troop building along the border with Lebanon was "solely aimed at strengthening border control and maintaining internal Syrian security", and that similar measures were taken on the border with Iraq.

Arab World

Israel Defense Minister Warns Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah or Face ‘Heavy Price’

A man inspects the debris of destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Haret Hreik neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
A man inspects the debris of destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Haret Hreik neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Defense Minister Warns Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah or Face ‘Heavy Price’

A man inspects the debris of destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Haret Hreik neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
A man inspects the debris of destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Haret Hreik neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, on March 7, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the Lebanese government on Saturday to disarm Hezbollah or "pay ‌a very ‌heavy price." 

"We (ISRAEL) ‌have ⁠no territorial claims ⁠against Lebanon, but we will not accept a situation ⁠where what ‌existed ‌for many ‌years — firing ‌from Lebanese territory toward the State of ‌Israel — is renewed," Katz said in ⁠a ⁠statement.  

"Therefore, we are turning and warning: act and take action before we act even more." 

The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon on Saturday urged Lebanon and Israel to enter talks to negotiate an end hostilities after the outbreak of a renewed Israel-Hezbollah war.  

"As bad as things are today, they are set to get even worse," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said.  

"Talks between Lebanon and Israel can be the game changer needed to save future generations from going, time and again, through the same nightmare".  

In December, Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives engaged in their first direct talks in decades as part of a meeting of a committee monitoring the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.  

Lebanon was engulfed by the expanding Middle East war on Monday, after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks on Iran.