The Latest Breaking News from Sébastien Lecornu

France's armed forces minister has stressed that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFL) will remain in place as Israel expands its targets across the country in a bid to neutralise the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed Thursday as “ridiculous” Russia's defense minister's remarks suggesting Ukraine and France could had a role in last month's deadly Moscow concert hall attack.

France is planning to have some of its arms manufacturers produce much-needed military equipment directly on Ukrainian soil to help the country in its war against Russia, Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Friday.

France's Sebastien Lecornu travelled to Armenia Thursday on the first trip by a French defence minister to the South Caucasus nation. It comes as tensions rise with Yerevan's historic rival Azerbaijan, and as French President Emmanuel Macron met with Armenia's leader in Paris.

Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French surveillance aircraft patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, a signal of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, French defense officials said Thursday.

NGOs and leftist members of the opposition have increased the pressure on France's government to reconsider arms sales to Israel in the wake of the war in Gaza and follow in the footsteps of other European nations that made moves to suspend military exports over concerns about the humanitarian situation…

France will send dozens of armoured vehicles to the Lebanese army so it can properly carry out patrol missions in the country, the Defence minister said in remarks published on Monday. This comes as tensions mount between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

France has urged Israel and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah to avoid destabilising the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon – warning that broadening the Israel-Hamas war would plunge Lebanon "into an abyss". However Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said an escalation of hostilities was "a realistic possibility".

Gabon's new ruler General Brice Oligui Nguema has appointed former opposition leaders and key figures from the ousted regime to both houses of parliament, as the military junta sets a two-year transition period to democracy and military cooperation with France resumes.