If France launches air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, it will follow the United States and Britain in claiming it is acting in self-defense, but experts say such action could land it in difficult legal territory.

In a marked change of strategy, France began surveillance flights over Syria on Tuesday with a view to launching strikes on the jihadists once targets have been identified.

The U.N. rights chief on Friday condemned what he described as a "systematic national policy" in France to evict Roma, two weeks after more than 150 people were forced from a shantytown north of Paris. 

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the removal of the migrants from a settlement in the municipality of La Courneuve was carried out with less than the required 24-hour minimum warning and had rendered scores of Roma homeless. 

The raising of the Palestinian flag over U.N. headquarters would be a key step towards the Palestinians obtaining the status of a member state, the prime minister said Thursday.

The General Assembly in New York is set to vote at 1900 GMT on a draft resolution to allow the flag-raising that diplomats say is almost certain to obtain a majority in the 193-nation U.N., despite strong opposition from both Israel and the United States.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat sought on Thursday to limit any possible tension that could emerge over the killing of Sheikh Wahid al-Balous, a prominent Druze cleric in Syria.

“This is not an opportunity to challenge anyone. We respect all viewpoints,” said Jumblat at the memorial service of al-Balous held at the Druze Community House in Beirut's Verdun district.

Ukraine's army said on Wednesday that a new nine-day truce with pro-Russian insurgents was holdings despite small skirmishes that claimed the lives of two government soldiers this week.

"A relative calm on the front is holding," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters.

Brazil will welcome Syrian refugees with "open arms," President Dilma Rousseff said Monday, as various Latin American nations sought to help with the human tidal wave fleeing the war-torn country.

In a video message marking Brazil's Independence Day, Rousseff said she wanted to "reiterate the government's willingness to welcome those who, driven from their homeland, want to come live, work and contribute to the prosperity and peace of Brazil." 

French President Francois Hollande said Monday that he would visit Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials and inspect Syrian refugee encampments.

Speaking at his bi-annual press conference, Hollande said that his trip to Lebanon would come after the U.N. General Assembly session in New York later this month.

A controversial sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor on display in the gardens of France's Palace of Versailles, and which has become known as the "queen's vagina", was vandalized Sunday for the second time.

Officially known as "Dirty Corner," the giant steel funnel that Kapoor himself has described as "very sexual" was covered in anti-Semitic graffiti in white paint, said Versailles president Catherine Pegard.

French far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen announced Saturday the creation of a political association, distinct from the National Front (FN) party he co-founded and was recently ousted from after feuding with its current leader, his daughter.

The 87-year-old made his remarks in Marseille where the FN is holding a party conference through Sunday with its president Marine Le Pen wanting to focus on regional elections set for December.

France is considering joining U.S.-led coalition air strikes against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria, a reversal of its current position, Le Monde daily said Saturday.

Neither the French presidency, the ministry of foreign affairs nor the defense ministry would comment on the report, with officials saying only that President Francois Hollande may address the question during his twice-yearly press conference on Monday.