A former jihadist who became an al-Qaida double agent says Muslims must do more to tackle extremism in their midst and that stopping lone wolf attacks is near-impossible.

Morten Storm has seen deep inside the conflict between jihadists and Western intelligence services, having served both.

France set out a package of reforms on Wednesday aimed at better integrating Muslims and preventing radicalization in the wake of the recent jihadist attacks in Paris.

It outlined plans to set up a "dialogue forum", tapping leading associations, intellectuals and other notable figures from the Muslim community for regular talks with the government.

After having flown missions over Afghanistan and Libya, French Rafale fighter pilot "Sharpy" now faces fresh challenges on his new assignment against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq.

"We are well-trained, we know all the procedures but you still need to get used to the territory," he said after landing his fighter on the carrier Charles de Gaulle following a nighttime sortie.

Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a far-right party could distribute controversial copies of Charlie Hebdo as part of its campaign ahead of a March 17 general election.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party had already displayed copies of the French satirical magazine that featured an image of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed at a publicity stunt in Tel Aviv earlier this month.

Four French lawmakers met with Syrian President Bashar Assad Wednesday during a private trip to the war-torn country, despite a breakdown in diplomatic ties between Paris and Damascus.

The French government, which supports the moderate Syrian opposition and wants Assad to leave power, was quick to clarify that the lawmakers were there in no official capacity.

A poll of British Muslims published on Wednesday found that 27 percent had some sympathy for the motives behind last month's Islamist attack in Paris against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Sixty-two percent said they had no sympathy.

France said on Wednesday that it will begin shipping $3 billion worth of weapons paid for by Saudi Arabia to the Lebanese army in April.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the deal, first announced in 2013, will supply French armored vehicles, warships, attack helicopters, munitions and communications gear.

Efforts intensified Wednesday to find a French woman and her Yemeni interpreter kidnapped in crisis-hit Yemen, with relatives reaching out to tribal chiefs and Shiite militiamen in control of the capital.

Unidentified gunmen seized 30-year-old Isabelle Prime -- a consultant working on a World Bank-funded project -- and her interpreter Sherine Makkaoui from a car in Sanaa on Tuesday.

France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine called Tuesday for a total ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as London announced it was sending troops to train government forces fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country would send up to 75 military personnel to advise and train Kiev forces, but ruled out sending lethal equipment as "there needs to be a diplomatic solution" to the conflict.

A dozen French fighter jets are catapulted into the sky from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, roaring off towards Iraq as part of the campaign against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Five hours later, by midnight, the last batch of warplanes swoops down to land on the runway of the Charles de Gaulle in waters north of Bahrain.