He confirmed that the French air force was involved in the operation, but gave no details.

BBC: France confirms Mali military intervention

In 1995, a French air force cargo plane landed at the Bosnian city of Mostar, becoming the first aircraft to do so since 1992.

CNN: Monday,

As I write, the French air force is bombing militant positions and arms dumps on the northern edge of the Tegharghar, around the village of Tessalit, a beautiful little oasis located next to a river that floods every June and July, if the rains are good.

BBC: Camel train in the desert

But the revolution in military robotics does have an Achilles heel, notes Emmanuel Goffi of the French air-force academy in Salon-de-Provence.

ECONOMIST: Robots go to war

Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has flown five C-17 flights into Bamako, delivering more than 80 French troops and 124 tons of equipment thus far in an ongoing airlift operation, Pentagon press secretary George Little said Tuesday.

NPR: US Begins Transporting French Troops To Mali