At France’s defense and security council meeting on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande expressed concerns over the escalating violence in the Syrian city of Aleppo and also discussed ways to help promote a lasting peace accord in Libya.

The US military says it has killed four al-Shabaab extremists in Somalia in what it calls airstrikes in self-defence. A US Africa Command statement on Tuesday says the extremists launched attacks on Somali troops and their US advisers on Monday in a village near the port city of Kismayo.

France’s president says his country will provide its full support to Libya’s UN-backed government in the fight against militants. “There are still some terrorist groups in Libya which must be hunted down and neutralised,” Francois Hollande said following a meeting on Tuesday in Paris with the head of Libya’s fragile …