Syria's main opposition alliance appealed Monday for cash and weapons from the international community as France warned that failing to deliver them would bolster Islamist militants in the fight against President Bashar Assad.

"With a state and a society collapsing, it is the Islamist groups that could gain ground if we do not do what we have to do," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told an international meeting at which a leader of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said the organization would need $500 million (370 million euros) to set up an alternative government.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday discussed with the Saudi crown prince his country's intervention in Mali and military cooperation between Paris and Riyadh, a French diplomat told Agence France Presse.

"The meeting focused on the intervention in Mali" and both men also "discussed (the situation in) Syria, Iran and Yemen," the diplomat said, adding the visit was planned before French intervention in Mali that began this month.

French fighter jets bombed the far northern Islamist stronghold of Kidal in Mali and destroyed the home of the head of an al-Qaida-linked group, a security source said.

"There were air raids on Islamist bases in Kidal," 1,500 kilometers (940 miles) north of the capital Bamako, a Malian security source said, adding that the home of Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith) chief Iyad Ag Ghaly was destroyed.

French-led troops battling Islamist militants in Mali will soon be near the fabled northern city of Timbuktu, visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in Chile on Saturday.

The French and Malian troops are currently "around Gao and soon near Timbuktu," he said in a speech to the French community of Santiago.

French-led troops Saturday seized the airport and a key bridge serving the Islamist stronghold of Gao in a major boost to a 16-day-old offensive to rout Al-Qaida-linked rebels from Mali's sprawling desert north.

The stunning advance came as the extremist Muslim group controlling Gao since June said it was ready for talks to free a 61-year-old French hostage kidnapped in November.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh repeated his support for the Orthodox Gathering electoral draft law, while voicing his wonder at President Michel Suleiman's rejection of it, reported al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper that Suleiman's rejection of the law is unjustified, noting: “He only opposed at France and Qatar's behest.”

France is keen that the Lebanese parliamentary elections are held as scheduled in June, while lamenting the failure of the political factions to reach an agreement over a new electoral law, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

An official French source told the daily: “French President Francois Hollande hopes that the elections will be held on time” and he will relay this message to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and Phalange Party chief Amin Gemayel.

The death of a second Malaysian worker in the Algerian hostage crisis has been confirmed after his body was identified by his dental records and a tattoo, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The man, Tan Ping Wee, had been unaccounted for since Islamist militants attacked the In Amenas gas plant in the north African desert on January 16.

U.S. President Barack Obama voiced support Friday for France's military intervention in Mali and vowed to work with French counterpart Francois Hollande to tackle extremism across North Africa.

The two presidents discussed other "shared security concerns," including Algeria, Libya and Syria, during telephone talks, the White House said in a statement.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault insisted on Friday that the French-led operation against Islamists in Mali was making clear progress and in no danger of getting bogged down.

"There's no risk of a stalemate. France has met and respected the goals it set itself," Ayrault told reporters during a visit to Buenos Aires.