Mali Fighting Intensifies As Rebels Seek To Withstand French Air Strikes

The French-led campaign in Mali is continuing and will continue, according to the VOA. Mali's neighbors, and specifically Nigeria, appear ready to commit assets to the campaign, which is aimed at dislodging Al Qaeda-linked Islamist forces which have seized the north of the country. France is said to have committed 2,500 troops to the fighting, and French tank columns were reported departing Bamako. The campaign has been complicated by logistical hiccups and shortfalls, and Paris had to call upon the UK, under an integration agreement, to provide large planes to ferry supplies into Mali. Additionally, the increasingly undeniable ability of Islamist forces to withdraw and redeploy in response to air attacks shows a discipline that is troubling.