Paris is pushing for "safe zones" to be set up in Syria where citizens would be out of reach of regime forces and Islamic State jihadists, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday.

Fabius said the country was working alongside U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura who has proposed a "freeze" in fighting in Syria's second city of Aleppo.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is likely to hear during his visit to Brussels next week warnings from several European countries on the drop in assistance to Lebanon over the government’s decision not to accept more Syrian refugees.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that Salam's talks with European Union officials during his visit to Brussels on Dec. 1 will focus on the refugee crisis.

Former president Michel Suleiman on Monday called on the Maronite political parties to put aside “personal interests” and put an end to the drawn-out presidential vacuum.

“I reiterate my call for all Maronite parties to put aside personal interests and elect a new president immediately,” Suleiman said during a ceremony at the Vatican, where he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Pius IX.

A Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy filed an appeal in the country's top court Monday, her final legal recourse after being found guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammed four years ago.

A high court in the eastern city of Lahore confirmed the death sentence of Asia Bibi last month, dashing hopes the conviction might be overturned or commuted to a jail term. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that France's parliament would be making a "grave mistake" if it recognizes a Palestinian state in a vote on December 2. 

"Do they have nothing better to do at a time of beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?" he told reporters in Jerusalem, referring to hiker Herve Gourdel who was executed by his jihadist captors in Algeria in September.

Three thousand people were evacuated from their homes in the center of the French city of Rennes Sunday while a huge British bomb from World War II was defused.

The 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was found near the city's town hall during the building of a new metro line in the capital of the Brittany region of western France, mayor Nathalie Appere told AFP.

French fighter jets are due to arrive in Jordan soon to join operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Sunday.

"The show of strength is continuing with the arrival of Mirage planes in the coming days," Valls said during a visit to the Niger capital Niamey, adding that men and equipment were already in place in Jordan. 

Prime Minister Tammam Salam received on Sunday a message from French President Francois Hollande on the occasion of Independence Day, during which he expressed France's keenness on Lebanon's unity, stability, and sovereignty.

He added: “As prime minister, you are keen on safeguarding state institutions at this critical time and this should be translated into the election of a president as soon as possible.”

The upcoming weeks could be decisive in determining the election of a president given the regional and international interest to end the vacuum at the Baabda Palace, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday.

Christian sources from the March 14 camp told the daily that France, the Vatican, and Saudi Arabia are pressuring Lebanese powers to end the vacuum.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls arrived in Chad late Friday at the start of a two-day regional visit, in a show of support for a French-led anti-jihadist force.

In N'Djamena on Saturday and Niger's capital Niamey on Sunday, Valls will hold talks with respective presidents Idriss Deby and Mahamadou Issoufou.