France's lower house National Assembly Thursday approved an "anti-terrorism" bill which will usher in a travel ban on anyone suspected of planning to wage jihad abroad.

The bill comes as authorities are increasingly concerned about the number of French citizens traveling to fight in Iraq and Syria who could potentially come back and stage attacks in their home country.

Four people died when storms turned a peaceful river that bordered their camping site in southern France into a raging torrent that swept them away, local authorities said Thursday.

The site in Lamalou-les-Bains was devastated by the overnight flood as storms that had already killed an elderly lady in the nearby region of Aveyron also left a person missing in another neighboring district.

French President Francois Hollande holds a rare and hotly awaited news conference later Thursday as the embattled and deeply unpopular leader seeks to turn the tide on a catastrophic few weeks.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed on Thursday that the military had all the necessary capabilities to engage in tough battles with terrorists in the northeastern border town of Arsal, revealing that the United States and France will provide the institution with further aid.

“We had the essential ammunition to engage in a long and fierce battle with the terrorists,” Qahwaji said in comments published in As Safir newspaper, denying that the army lacked the necessary equipment in the Arsal clashes.

Police in France's northern port of Calais fired tear gas on Wednesday on migrants trying to force their way onto trucks in a desperate bid to get to Britain after they threw stones at security forces.

The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between asylum seekers and authorities in the port, which trucks go through to board ferries bound for Britain.

Six people have been detained in France on suspicion of recruiting candidates for jihad, a judicial source said Wednesday, as the number of French citizens travelling to Iraq and Syria increases.

France's parliament on Tuesday approved a new anti-terror bill aimed at preventing potential jihadists from traveling to Iraq, Syria or elsewhere by confiscating their passports.

The travel ban on French nationals could be imposed "where there are serious reasons to believe that someone is planning to travel abroad to take part in terrorist activities, war crimes or crimes against humanity or in a theater of operations of terrorist groups and in conditions likely to jeopardize public security upon their return to French territory", according to the text.

France's crisis-hit government on Tuesday narrowly won a crunch parliamentary vote of confidence in its economic reform path, in a rare respite for the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande.

French deputies voted 269 to 244 in favor of the government's policies, after an impassioned speech by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who vowed to press ahead with controversial spending cuts and tax breaks for companies.

A senior Syrian official on Tuesday criticized the international community for excluding Damascus from recent talks on building a coalition to tackle the Islamic State group.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad, quoted by state news agency SANA, expressed "astonishment" that Syria was not invited to the talks, which were attended by countries that Damascus claims fund "terrorism".

French President Francois Hollande highlighted on Monday the need to preserve Lebanon's unity and sovereignty, while emphasizing the role of the army in protecting the country.

He stressed the importance of supporting the Lebanese army and properly equipping it.