French soldier killed in Mali, 20 rebels dead

PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) - A French soldier and more than 20 Islamist rebels were killed during what appeared to be the first clashes in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range where militants have taken refuge in northern Mali, French officials said on Tuesday.

Speaking on a visit to Athens, French President Francois Hollande said serious fighting had broken out and was continuing in the remote area that straddles the Mali-Algeria border, resulting in several casualties among the rebels and one French legionnaire.

"At this moment we have special forces that are in an extremely precarious zone of the Ifoghas," Hollande said. "It's where the terrorist groups that we stopped before have pulled back to."

The soldier is the second French casualty since Paris intervened in Mali last month when Islamist rebels, after hijacking a rebellion by ethnic Tuareg MNLA separatists to seize control of the north in the confusion following a military coup, pushed south towards the capital Bamako.

Highlighting the risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa since the intervention in its former colony, a French family of seven was kidnapped in northern Cameroon on Tuesday by suspected Nigerian militants.

After driving the bulk of the insurgents from northern towns such as Timbuktu and Gao, France has been focusing its operations on Mali's remote northeast mountains, where French special forces and Chadian troops are hunting rebel bases.

They believe the rebels are holding some of the eight French hostages, previously seized in region, in hideouts in the Adrar des Ifoghas range.

"We are now in the last phase of the operation," Hollande said. "That means arresting the last leaders of these groups that are in the extreme north of Mali."

The French defence ministry said that a parachute regiment of 150 soldiers supported by a heavy vehicle patrol and Mirage fighter jets had come under fire on Tuesday morning.

The French raid was aimed at disrupting the militants and dismantling their camps, the ministry said.

"The French troops was able to locate terrorist elements in their hideout, to chase them and to kill more than 20 of them," it said.

ROCKET LAUNCHERS FOUND

French leaders have said they intend to start pulling out the 4,000 French troops in Mali in March to hand over security to the Malian army and to the U.N.-backed AFISMA force, which is expected to exceed 8,000 soldiers and is drawn mainly from Mali's West African neighbours.

French and Malian troops secured the north Mali town of Bourem on Sunday, tightening their control over areas where Islamist insurgents have been launching guerrilla attacks to harass the French-led military operation.

But showing just how well-armed the insurgents are, the French defence ministry said earlier on Tuesday it had found three abandoned Russian-made rocket launchers left behind by Islamists near Bourem.

The BM-21 launch vehicles add to a collection of rockets, boxes of ammunition and accessories previously found in other towns and in all likelihood seized from Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and after Malian forces retreated last year.

"You have the full spectrum," James Bevan, head of Conflict Armament Research, a group that identifies and tracks weapons, told Reuters after viewing photos of an abandoned cache in Diabaly earlier this month.

"This is pretty heavy ordnance - a level that would achieve parity with or even out gun most West African militaries."

Bahrain says Iran's Revolutionary Guard behind "terror" cell

Bahrain's police chief, Major General Tariq Al Hassan, speaks during a news conference in Manama July 31, 2012. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Bahrain has accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of setting up a militant cell to assassinate public figures in the Gulf Arab kingdom and attack its airport and government buildings.

Bahraini authorities said on Sunday they had arrested eight Bahrainis in the group, with links to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.

The kingdom, base for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been in political turmoil since protests erupted there in 2011, led by majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding an end to the Sunni monarchy's political domination and full powers for parliament.

Bahrain has accused Shi'ite Iran of fuelling the unrest, an accusation Tehran has consistently denied.

In a statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency late on Tuesday, Bahrain's head of public security said the cell was part of a group called the "Imam Army" which included Bahrainis at home and abroad and members of other nationalities.

"Investigation has also revealed that a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard codenamed 'Abu Naser' masterminded the whole terror operation," the agency quoted public security chief Major-General Tariq Hassan al-Hassan as saying.

Abu Nasser supplied the group with $80,000, Hassan said, and instructed it to gather information, recruit and obtain weapons storage in Bahrain.

"MISTAKEN PATH"

The cell's planned targets included the Ministry of Interior and Bahrain International Airport, he said. The group attended training camps run by the Revolutionary Guard inside Iran, as well as some operated by Iraq's Hezbollah in Baghdad and the Iraqi city of Kerbala, Hassan added.

Five of the detainees were arrested in Bahrain and three in Oman, General Hassan said, adding another four Bahrainis were being sought by the authorities.

He said authorities had collected evidence in the form of papers and electronic documents, flashcards, phones, computers, cash and images of bank transactions.

On Monday Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, dismissed Sunday's news of the arrests.

"Unfortunately Bahraini officials are following a mistaken path," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

He said Bahraini officials were "making accusations against various countries including Iran, and they imagine that in this way they can solve the problem they are encountering".

News of the arrests emerged after an upsurge in unrest on the island last week. A protester and a policeman were killed in clashes on February 14 as anti-government protesters marked the second anniversary of the uprising.

The violence has clouded the atmosphere around talks that began on February 10 between the mostly Shi'ite opposition and the Sunni-dominated government to find a way out of the impasse over Shi'ite demands for more democracy.

Another round of talks was due to be held on Wednesday afternoon.

(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by William Maclean and Andrew Roche)

Syrian violence threatens ancient treasures

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian museums have locked away thousands of ancient treasures to protect them from looting and violence but one of humanity's greatest cultural heritages remains in grave peril, the archaeologist charged with their protection said.

Aleppo's medieval covered market has already been gutted by fires which also ripped through the city's Umayyad mosque. Illegal excavations have threatened tombs in the desert town of Palmyra and the Bronze Age settlement of Ebla, and Interpol is hunting a 2,700-year-old statue taken from the city of Hama.

In a country which also boasts stunning Crusader castles, Roman ruins and a history stretching back through the great empires of the Middle East to the dawn of human civilization, the task of safeguarding that heritage from modern conflict is a daunting responsibility.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of Syria's antiquities and museums, says it is a battle for the nation's very existence.

"We emptied Syria's museums. They are in effect empty halls, with the exception of large pieces that are difficult to move," Abdulkarim told Reuters during a visit to neighboring Jordan.

Tens of thousands of artefacts spanning 10,000 years of history were removed to specialist warehouses to avoid a repeat of the storming of Baghdad's museum by looters a decade ago, in the wake of the U.S. invasion and overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, he said.

Syria's own 23-month-old conflict is tearing the country apart and has raised international concerns over the fate of one of the richest and most diverse historical collections of any single nation.

The UN cultural body UNESCO says it is concerned for the fate of six World Heritage sites including the old cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Bosra and the imposing Crusader castle, Crac des Chevaliers.

Many have become battlegrounds between rebels taking cover among ruins and troops who shell indiscriminately, the damage recorded in relentless video images of the fighting.

If looters ever got their hands on the museum treasures, that would mark the final demise of Syria, Abdulkarim said.

"If they reach these places then my conviction is that Syria would no longer exist... It would signal the end of the end," said the 46-year-old French-educated archaeology professor who took over as Syria's Director General of Antiquities and Museums six months ago. "Syria as we know it would then be over."

BRONZE STATUE

Numerous Bronze Age civilizations left successive marks on Syria including Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites. They in turn were replaced by Greeks, Sassanians, Persians, Romans and Arabs, many choosing Syrian cities for their capitals.

European Crusaders left impressive castles and the Ottoman Empire also made its mark over five centuries.

Abdulkarim said the most significant pieces to go missing since the start of the conflict were a gilt bronze statue from around 2,000 years ago that was stolen from the city of Hama - and placed on Interpol's 'Most Wanted' list of art works a year ago - and a marble piece looted from the garden of Apamea museum.

But priceless artefacts in the northern town of Maarat al-Noman were saved when the local community ensured the museum's famous mosaic portals were kept safe during fierce clashes.

In Hama, local neighborhood youths protected the museum's Roman and Byzantine statues from looters until they were taken to safety, Abdulkarim said. "They closed the doors of the museum and were able to protect it from disaster."

Dozens of archaeological sites have been targeted by illegal excavation and trafficking, though they account for less than one percent of the 10,000 sites across the country, he said.

The diggers concentrate mainly on sites which have long been the focus of illicit trafficking, such as the ancient city of Apamea, north of Hama, that flourished during Roman and Byzantine periods, and is famous for its 1,850-metre colonnade.

"Vandalism in the city is an old phenomenon and is not related to the crisis, but the thieves who are active in this area have found greater freedom to operate during this crisis," Abdulkarim said.

Video footage from March last year, documented in a report by archaeologist Emma Cunliffe at Britain's Durham University, also appears to show tanks stationed alongside the Apamea colonnade.

Abdulkarim appealed to the warring parties to spare the country's many Crusader castles, some of which have been in the thick of the conflict and even been converted into army barracks or rebel hideouts.

Crac des Chevaliers, the supreme example of Crusader castle building, has suffered minor damage while Aleppo citadel's main gate was sightly damaged along with its northern tower, he said.

GUTTED SOUKS

The greatest damage has been to a collection of seven old markets in Aleppo, unsurpassed in the Middle East, that were gutted by fire that also damaged the city's Great Umayyad Mosque, Abdulkarim said.

"We have lost the seven souks completely, forever," he said, although the continued fighting had prevented any mission from assessing the full extent of the structural damage.

In northeastern Syria, major ancient sites in Tell Mozan near Qazmishli were well protected by Kurdish groups that have taken control in the region, Abdulkarim said.

U.S. historian Giorgio Buccellati, who has worked at Tell Mozan and checks photos of the site daily on the Internet, told Reuters there had been "absolutely no looting" there.

In southern Syria, army shelling had damaged some ancient homes but not the ruin of Bosra, which contains one of the best preserved Roman theatres and a major monument, Abdulkarim said. His comments were confirmed by a refugee who spoke to Reuters this week after fleeing the town.

"The army had shelled the old quarter where rebels had dug in and there has been damage to an old church," Abdullah Zubi said after crossing into Jordan. But the Roman theatre, in an army-controlled sector, suffered no damage although army troops are dug in nearby, he said.

The ruins of what may be the world's first city, a mound near the Syrian-Iraqi border town called Tell Brak, have so far been spared, while illegal excavation of unexplored tombs in the ancient desert city of Palmyra had halted, Abdulkarim said.

In some cases those illegal digs stopped simply because thieves failed to locate any treasures, as happened at the Bronze Age site at Ebla after they dug holes in an ancient courtyard at the royal palace.

More than 4,000 items, including beads, coins, statues and mosaic panels, were turned over by Syrian customs last year to Abdulkarim's department, although nearly a third of those turned out to be counterfeit.

The department is also working with UNESCO and Interpol to track down 18 mosaic panels smuggled to Lebanon.

Combined losses so far remained just a modest fraction of Syria's priceless collection, Abdulkarim said, but added that protracted and escalating violence could usher in anarchy and more brazen theft.

"So far the gangs and thieves are small scale operators and no organized international gangs have surfaced," he said. "But what could be terrifying is that column heads and columns and large stones could be stolen...and smuggled out of Syria."

"If this happens, God forbid, then we are approaching the start of the tragic demolition of our past and future."

(Editing by Dominic Evans and Sonya Hepinstall)

Insight: Battle for Damascus: frozen but bloody

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Rebel fighters in Damascus are disciplined, skilled and brave.

In a month on the frontline, I saw them defend a swathe of suburbs in the Syrian capital, mount complex mass attacks, manage logistics, treat their wounded - and die before my eyes.

But as constant, punishingly accurate, mortar, tank and sniper fire attested, President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers on the other side, often just a room or a grenade toss away, are also well drilled, courageous - and much better armed.

So while the troops were unable to dislodge brigades of the Free Syrian Army from devastated and depopulated neighborhoods just east of the city centre - and indeed made little effort to do so - there seems little immediate prospect of the rebels overrunning Assad's stronghold. The result is bloody stalemate.

I watched both sides mount assaults, some trying to gain just a house or two, others for bigger prizes, only to be forced back by sharpshooters, mortars or sprays of machinegun fire.

As in the ruins of Beirut, Sarajevo or Stalingrad, it is a sniper's war; men stalk their fellow man down telescopic sights, hunting a glimpse of flesh, an eyeball peering from a crack, use lures and decoys to draw their prey into giving themselves away.

Fighting is at such close quarters that on one occasion a rebel patrol stumbled into an army unit inside a building; hand grenades deafened us and shrapnel shredded plaster, a sudden clatter of Kalashnikov cartridges and bullets coming across the cramped space gave way in seconds to the groans of the wounded.

From January 14, having reached Damascus from Lebanon by way of undercover opposition networks, I spent four weeks in Ain Tarma, Mleha, Zamalka, Irbin and Harasta - rebel-held areas forming a wedge whose apex lies less than a mile to the east of the walled Old City, with its ancient mosques, churches and bazaars.

Once bustling suburbs are all but empty of life, bar the fighters; six months of combat, of shelling and occasional air strikes have broken open apartment blocks to the winter winds of the high Syrian plateau and choked the streets with rubble.

BARRICADES

Battling the cold in woollen ski-hats or chequered keffiyeh scarves, swathed in layers of cotton and leather jackets, a few thousand unshaven men, many from nearby peasant villages, some who deserted Assad's army, defend a patchwork of barricades and strongpoints, served by cars ferrying ammunition and rations and led by commanders using handheld radios and messenger runners.

Days are punctuated by regular halts for prayer in a conflict, now 23 months old, that has become increasingly one pitting Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, stiffened by Islamist radicals, against Alawites led by Assad; they have support from Iran, from whose Shi'ite Islam their faith is derived.

Typical of the frontline routine was an attack that a couple of dozen men of the brigade Tahrir al-Sham - roughly "Syrian Freedom" - mounted in Ain Tarma on January 30, aiming to take over or at least damage an army checkpoint further up the lane.

I photographed one two-man fire team crouch against a breeze-block garden wall, about 50 meters from their target.

In blue jeans, sneakers and muffled against a morning chill, their role was to wait for comrades to hit the army position with rocket-propelled grenades then rake the soldiers with their AK-47 automatic rifles as they were flushed out into the open.

There was little to make a sound in the abandoned streets. The attackers whispered to each other under their breath.

Then two shots rang out. One of the two riflemen, heavy set and balding, screamed in pain and collapsed back on the tarmac.

The day's assault was going wrong before it even started.

Another fighter crept over to help. Realizing the casualty was gravely hurt, two more came up and they dragged the man's inert bulk back across the street, through a narrow gap to relative safety.

Battlefield first-aid is helpless in the face of single shot to the belly. The man died in minutes, his gut ripped through and his blood warming the bare concrete floor. But there was no time to mourn - the army was alerted to the squad's presence.

As the rebels regrouped, a tank shell struck the deserted building, sending shattered concrete and dust raining down on us and the survivors ran for cover, ready to fight another day.

MASS ATTACK

Having captured large areas last July before the front lines again congealed in the capital, the rebels stepped up attacks last month, trying to weaken Assad's grip on the outlying neighborhoods surrounding the fortified centre of Damascus and pushing across the main ring road in the neighborhood of Jobar.

Among the boldest offensive moves I saw was an assault by what appeared to be several hundred fighters on a sprawling army barracks in the Irbin district. It was striking for the level of coordination it displayed among numerous units which, lacking uniforms, donned bandannas in bright pinks, reds and oranges to identify their loyalties and reduce the risk of "friendly fire".

One group also brought up a Soviet-built T-72 tank to take part in the February 3 attack. Crewed by men who evidently had been trained in the army, it may have had little ammunition, however.

The infantry skirmish for control of the barracks involved teams of fighters, their colorful headscarves at odds with grim faces and attempts at camouflage, stealing up to a two-meter perimeter wall that stretched for hundreds of meters around.

On a misty morning, they tried to maintain surprise, but once the shooting began there was no turning back, no sign these men might recently have been fearful civilians. They poured sustained rifle fire through gaps in the wall, tossed grenades over it and did what they could to avoid incoming rounds.

One man poked the head of a store-window manikin, fixed on a pole, into a hole in the perimeter, hoping a sniper could be tempted to betray his position. It was a wise precaution. I saw another man picked off later as he aimed through a similar gap.

By afternoon, helped by their tank, they had breached the defenses and were inside the compound, looking for enemies, intelligence and, especially, more weapons to carry off. They knew the position itself would be hard to hold - too big and open and vulnerable to familiar retaliatory air strikes.

In the end, at dusk, they pulled back. One commander said 150 of the attackers had been wounded and 20 were killed, a toll to add to the 70,000 the U.N. estimates have died in this war.

REBEL WEAPONRY

The bulk of the rebel armory is made up of Soviet- and Chinese-made AK-47s, similar to those among Assad's troops. Most rebels have one, though not always many magazines of bullets. I also saw U.S.-made M4 carbines and Austrian Steyr assault rifles not commonly supplied to the Syrian government. Western-allied Sunni Arab leaders in the Gulf have been arming the fighters.

Snipers use Russian Dragunovs and I also saw an American Barrett, a heavy-caliber rifle capable of puncturing metal.

The rebels also have rocket-propelled grenades and some heavier anti-tank weapons - at least enough to discourage their opponents from trying to roll their armor through their lines.

One day, I watched a man fire an antiquated, probably 1960s vintage, Soviet B-10 recoilless rifle, a heavy, bazooka-style cannon normally mounted on a little trolley and weighing about 70 kg (150 pounds); the rebel fighter simply hefted it onto his shoulder and blasted a heavy round somewhere down the road.

Capable of improvising, I also saw men use a shotgun to blast a fuse-lit, home-made grenade at their enemy.

Further from the fighting lines, some vestiges of ordinary life goes on for those civilians who have not joined the army of refugees. Often without electricity or running water, residents try to survive; a few shops sell vegetables, or meat kebabs. Moving around, glimpses of normality can be startling, as I found, turning a corner to find children playing in the street.

Other surprises were less pleasant. One Saturday, January 26, I was following a rebel patrol in Mleha, crawling from house to house through holes smashed in walls to evade the snipers.

Just ahead, those in front emerged to find themselves face to face with some equally astonished soldiers. Gunfire, grenades and screams followed. I threw myself to the ground. Both sides quickly pulled back, the wounded gasping and dragged to safety.

The battle for Damascus grinds on.

(Writing by Dominic Evans and Alastair Macdonald, editing by Peter Millership and Giles Elgood)

Scandal brings surprise revival for horsemeat in France

A dump truck is filled up with blocks of meat at French meat processor Spanghero's factory in Castelnaudary near Toulouse, southwestern France, February 15, 2013. REUTERS/Jean-Philippe Arles

By Muriel Boselli

PARIS (Reuters) - The rumpus in Europe over horsemeat sold as beef is bringing a bonanza for France's 700 surviving horse butchers, who are suddenly piquing consumer curiosity after years of decline.

Non-stop media coverage has made eating horses a hot topic round office water coolers, boosting sales by up to 15 percent, the head of France's horse butchers' trade group said.

"It's true, there is a pick up in trade, we worked a bit more last week because our clients speak more freely about horsemeat now," said Eric Vigoureux of Interbev Equins.

"With the scandal, in offices and on the workplace everybody is talking about it, so those who normally buy it feel less guilty and recommend their butcher," Vigoureux, who is a working horse butcher near Bordeaux, southwestern France, said.

France's taste for horsemeat reputedly dates back to hungry 18th-century revolutionaries who ate the horses of toppled aristocrats. It flourished for two centuries, then fell out of fashion with a squeamish younger generation.

The horsemeat scandal began last month when tests in Ireland revealed some beef products also contained equine DNA and triggered product recalls across Europe.

While the mislabeling aroused public concern about oversight of the food chain, it also prompted much discussion about the ethical and gastronomic merits of eating horses by choice.

"I had a lot of feedback from horse butchers all across the nation, saying that there were a lot of clients last week," Vigoureux said, estimating sales were up between 10 and 15 percent nationwide since the scandal erupted.

"Clients feel completely unapologetic about it now," he added.

At Le Taxi Jaune restaurant in the historical Marais district in Paris, one of the few Paris bistros serving horse dishes such as cured horse sausage and horse brain, head chef Otis Lebert says he too has noticed a surge in interest.

"But call me in three months and let's see if it is still the case," the chef said.

(Reporting by Muriel Boselli; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Anthony Barker)