thousands of french troops are currently deployed in mali with francoise hollande declaring they will remain there for as long as necessary. >> we have a common history with mali. we are historical allies. we cooperate on defense, so it was only natural that we responded to the call. but that should not hide the fact that all the same in liz beat -- libya, we got involved not to advance the cause of democracy but to advance the cause of islamic fundamentalism. i was the only one for years who denounced this intervention in libya, denounced the fact that the libyan rebels, just like their counterparts in syria, are in reality corrected and that their seizure of power, notably in libya, where they immediately impose sharia law, was going to destabilize the entire region. that is exactly what is happening in mali today. >> the operation follows france's role alongside the u.k. for a party which campaigns on anti-immigration, the upheaval caused by the arabs spring was unwelcome. would she have preferred gaddafi to have remained in power? >> it would probably have been more effective, wit

from disintegrating even further the situation there certainly bad on the ground of course francoise hollande is basically supporting the opposition and putin's side is saying that the actual representative of the country is bashar assad not supporting assad what he has done or his regime but saying that all sides have to come to the table in order for that to happen specifically on syria putin admitted to some intense dialogue even going as far as to say that they argued on the subject intensely but said that both sides are starting to see a little bit where the other is coming from and he didn't say that they were willing to change their position russia that is but they said that there's going to have to be some more dialogue with the other opposing views he then in fact made a joke about that saying that perhaps that discussion had to happen over a bottle of wine or even a bottle of vodka in order for it to be productive there moving on to mali the french president thanked putin very much for his support in mali and they said that they discussed the transition from the combat operation the

francoise hollande victorious trip to timbuktu marked the declaration that three major cities in northern mali have been declared liberated from rebels although the sharia law and islamic extremism of the rebels and forced will not soon be forgotten nevertheless this victory is a partial one the militants have merely retreated and fled and the suffering in this war has seems disproportionate to the gains made we're learning what happened in battle day by day in the town of kona we heard stories from the fog of war this is small settlement in the mopti region was seized by the more yo tribe they fled to the north when french troops showed up but it's reported that the cost of that victory was high while french planes killed only two rebels the number of civilian casualties was an estimated fourteen he said i wasn't home when the bombing began i started praying when i learned my house was under attack they ruined everything i had my family and my livelihood my wife's name was i mean she was forty my son ali was eleven when adam was ten and so you know who was six they all died as honest. pe

francoise hollande victorious trip to timbuktu marked the declaration that three major cities in northern mali have been declared liberated from rebels although the sharia law and islamic extremism of the rebels and forced will not soon be forgotten nevertheless this victory is a partial one the militants have merely retreated and fled and the suffering in this war has seemed disproportionate to the gains made we're learning what happened in battle day by day in the town of qana we heard stories from the fog of war this is small settlement in the mopti region was seized by the more yo tribe they fled to the north when french troops showed up but it's reported that the cost of that victory was high while french planes killed only two rebels the number of civilian casualties was an estimated fourteen he said i wasn't home when the bombing began i started praying when i learned my house was under attack they ruined everything i had my family and my livelihood my wife's name was i mean she was forty my son ali was eleven when adam was tanned and say no good was six they all died my son has co