France–Mali relations in Paris. There are over 120,000 Malians in France. In response to the rise of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2012 following the collapse of Azawad as part of Northern Mali conflict, France deployed 4,000 troops and sent many military equipments in part of Operation Serval. France has been very cautious of Mali's situation, as Mali was a former colony of France and has ties with France. In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron had vowed to fight every terrorist in Mali. France–Mali relations France–Mali relations refers to the current and historical relations between France and Mali. France was the former
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War over 9,000 sorties over the course of five and a half months, while helping the Syrian Army capture 400 towns and acquire 10,000 square kilometers of territory. In January 2016, a few months after Russia's involvement in Syria, diplomat Ranjit Gupta wrote, in an article published by , that the Russian reinforcement was "godsend for Assad, greatly boosting the regime's sagging morale and that of its armed forces." Gupta continued: In February 2016, Professor Fawaz A. Gerges of the London School of Economics opined the Russian military intervention had turned out to be a game-changer in the Syrian Civil War: