As the threat of attacks by Islamist extremists remains high in France, President Francois Hollande has decided to continue the deployment of 10,000 troops on the streets across the country.

"The threat of terrorist attack against our country remains high. The head of state has decided to maintain the level of the army on the national territory at 10,000 troops in support of security forces from the Interior Ministry," Hollande’s office said in a statement after a meeting of senior ministers, AFP reported.

A total of 7,000 troops will be monitoring and protecting religious buildings that are “particularly threatened,” the statement added.

Read moreFrench PM predicts 10,000 Europeans to join ISIS before 2015 ends

Among other sites that are being patrolled by the troops are stations, media buildings and various other possible targets for terrorists.

The move comes almost two months after deadly attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine’s headquarters and a kosher shop in Paris left 17 people dead.

Among the counter-terrorism measures, French authorities announced last week that they would double Islamic courses at universities to raise awareness about the threat of radical Islamism, and to avoid French imams being financed by foreign sources.

At the end of February, passports of six French nationals were seized after the group had been planning a trip to Syria – the hotbed of Islamic State (IS) extremists.

Just over a month ago, IS vowed more attacks on France, and urged French Muslims to join their“caliphate,” in a video that emerged online.

(RT)

Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group launched a major offensive Wednesday to try to capture a strategic town on the Syrian-Turkish border, leaving dozens dead in clashes, a monitor said.

"Fighters from the Islamic State group started a huge assault towards Ras al-Ain and were able to take over a village nearby," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The offensive is a preemptive strike against Kurdish militia who were planning an attack on the IS-held town of Tal Abyad farther west along the border, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Tal Abyad is an Arab and Kurdish town in the Syrian province of Raqa used by IS jihadists as a gateway from Turkey.

At least 12 fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which control Ras al-Ain and the surrounding villages, were killed in the IS onslaught, according to Abdel Rahman.

"This is a big hit to the morale of Kurdish fighters," he said.

He was unable to give an exact death toll for the jihadists but said that including IS casualties scores had been killed.

A spokesman for the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG's political arm, confirmed an intense battle was raging around the town.

Ras al-Ain, in Hasakeh province, was the scene of major fighting in 2013 before Kurdish forces ousted rebels and Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists from the town, which has a border crossing with Ceylanpinar in Turkey.

Kurdish fighters are also locked in clashes with IS around the strategic town of Tal Tamr, just southeast of Ras al-Ain, which lies near a key road that links to their Iraqi bastion of Mosul to the east.

The IS offensives come just weeks after Kurdish militia backed by Iraqi peshmerga fighters and Syrian rebels drove the extremists out of Kobane farther west along the Turkish border.

The town, which was devastated by months of fighting and US-led coalition air strikes, became a prominent symbol of resistance against the jihadists.

Kurdish and allied forces have since taken much of the surrounding countryside in northern Aleppo province and have begun pushing east into neighbouring Raqa province, home to IS's self-proclaimed "capital."

IS has seized large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Foreign jihadists have flocked to Syria, often crossing over from Turkey, since the country's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular revolt which later escalated into a full-blown civil war.

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip are hoping Israel's general election will bring about change, but even if it does, many still doubt their lot will improve.

After decades of conflict, it has made little difference to them who leads Israel. Neither leftist nor rightwing has achieved a comprehensive peace deal, with round after round of talks collapsing.

But people in the Palestinian territories are intrigued by the election in a country whose policies and occupation affect all aspects of their daily lives.

"It's natural we would follow these elections, since they are being held in the country that occupies us and which every day kills or oppresses Palestinians," said Palestine Liberation Organisation official Mohammed Madani.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem, and it also controls two of Gaza's three border crossings.

In the West Bank, Palestinians have to negotiate checkpoints manned by Israeli soldiers, and most people are not allowed to leave the coastal enclave of Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade for eight years.

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An Israeli soldier aims his gun towards Palestinian demonstrators demanding the reopening of Shuhada …

Under this pressure, president Mahmud Abbas declared last week he was willing to resume peace talks with "whoever" comes to power after the March 17 election.

- 'Who will build peace?' -

Madani echoed him, but also hinted that a change of leadership might be welcome, after talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government broke down nearly a year ago.

"Whether the right or the left wins, what matters to us is the question of who will build peace," he said.

"If that partner doesn't emerge, that will mean the Israeli people don't know that it's in their interest" to elect a leader who does not "prioritise war", Madani said.

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A Palestinian protestor uses a sling shot to stone Israeli soldiers during a protest near the West B …

In a cafe in the West Bank city of Ramallah, waiter Bara, 23, felt things could be worse than under Netanyahu, who is seeking a fourth term.

"I've been reading about the Israeli election on Facebook, and even talking about it with friends," he said.

"We know the future government might be even worse than the one now led by Netanyahu."

Alternatives to Netanyahu's Likud include the ultra-rightwing Jewish Home, which opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

But the latest opinion polls also show the centre-left Zionist Union gaining ground, sparking hopes of renewed peace talks.

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A Palestinian demonstrator holds a placard during a protest demanding the reopening of Shuhada Stree …

Ramallah car salesman Adli al-Rami hoped a new government would mean real change.

"If they get rid of Israel's separation barrier (the concrete wall between the Jewish state and the West Bank), and slow just a little their settlement building, we would welcome a new government," he said.

- Palestinian issue ignored -

However, Israel's main parties have all but totally ignored the Palestinian issue in campaigning, instead focusing on internal socio-economic issues or perceived security threats posed by Iran and its allies.

Madani was hopeful that the joint Arab Israeli list -- the one party for whom peace with the Palestinians is a priority -- could win more than its current 11 seats.

"If that happens, it will be more possible that colonisation (settlement building) and the occupation" of the West Bank will be debated in parliament, he said.

Baker Mohammed Ibrahim hoped for a "moderate government which could be a partner for peace so the two peoples can live" side by side.

"We hope that this time the Palestinians will not pay in blood for the result of these elections," he said.

In Gaza, the prospect of "paying in blood" takes on literal significance, after last summer's 50-day war with Israel that killed about 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and displaced 100,000.

Gaza resident Rafiq Marshud winced at the prospect of Netanyahu again, saying: "Gaza will never benefit from Netanyahu or any far-right government."

The Islamist Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, said the result would make no difference.

"We are weighing nothing on the results and will continue to treat the occupation (Israel) as an enemy," spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP.

"All the parties that have led Israel have wanted to annihilate the Palestinian cause, colonise, and strengthen the Jewish character of their state, and all have practised violence and terrorism," he said.

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Putin Delays Kazakh Visit, no Health Problems Says Kremlin

Moscow (AFP) - Where is President Vladimir Putin? The Kremlin was forced Thursday to insist the Russian leader was in good health as rumours swirled online over his week-long absence from the public eye.

Putin was last seen in public on March 5 when he met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and, ever since he postponed a trip to Kazakhstan this week, Russians have grown increasingly curious about what their usually omnipresent leader is up to.

The 62-year-old nurtures a fit, tough-guy image and rarely takes time off.

"There's no need to worry, he's absolutely healthy," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Echo of Moscow radio station on Thursday.

Putin also postponed a meeting to sign an alliance agreement with the leader of the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, and did not show up at a meeting of the FSB security agency.

Peskov said the agreement with the rebel region may be signed next week and that Putin's attendance at the FSB meeting was not planned.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been out of the public eye for a week (AFP Photo/Mikhail Klimen …

He said Putin was busy with Russia's economic crisis and has "meetings constantly, but not all meetings are public."

Asked if Putin's handshake remains firm, Peskov laughed and said: "It breaks your hand." However he evaded a question on when Putin would next be seen on television.

"As soon as the sun comes out... and it starts smelling of spring, people start getting delusions," Peskov told TASS agency.

Adding grist to the rumour mill, the RBK news website claimed that Kremlin footage purporting to show Putin meeting regional governors and women on International Women's Day last week had in fact been filmed earlier. Peskov denied this.

The last time the popular Russian strongman's health prompted such speculation at home was when he cancelled a number of foreign trips in 2012 after appearing to have developed a limp, which the Kremlin said was due to a sports injury.

Whispers in Moscow about a leader's health are nothing new, with Putin's ailing predecessor Boris Yeltsin and former Soviet supremo Leonid Brezhnev the constant targets of rumours over their health.

"Has Putin died?" asks one website where the question is the only thing appearing on a blank page above a button which users can click to check, yielding responses such as "No" and "Still No".

Russians question Putin's health after absence