The French military says its aircraft have attacked Islamist militant positions in northeast Mali, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the African country.
Military officials say the overnight raids hit militant training and logistics sites in the areas of Kidal and Tessalit, close to the Algerian border.
On Saturday, Hollande told Malians that terrorism has been repelled and chased out, but not yet conquered.
In an appearance with Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traore, the French leader said his country had a duty to intervene and help Malian forces push Islamist militants from their strongholds in the north.
France's President Francois Hollande (2nd L) joins hands with Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali February 2, 2013.x
France's President Francois Hollande (2nd L) joins hands with Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali February 2, 2013.
"City after city, village after village, the Malian and French armies, helped by the West African countries, give Mali its integrity and strength back," said Hollande.
He told a cheering crowd in the capital, Bamako, French forces were fighting so that Malians in the former French colony could live in peace and have democracy.
Traore thanked Hollande for France's intervention and warned Malians against seeking vengeance for militant attacks.
Hollande's one-day tour of Mali came three weeks after the start of France's intervention.
The president, accompanied by the defense and finance ministers, visited Sevare and the ancient town of Timbuktu before heading to Bamako.
In Timbuktu, dancers and drummers greeted the French president, while Malians chanted, "Vive La France." He toured an ancient mosque and a library that had both been targeted by militants.
Hollande told reporters the Malian army had played a key role in liberating towns in the region.
"All the cities which were freed, were freed by the Malian army, supported by the French army," said Hollande. "It was always the Malians who entered first. Kidal, they needed to go to the airport and there were very special circumstances, then there were sand storms, so that has stopped the operation but it will continue, because our will and the one expressed by Mali is that France puts itself at the service of Mali within the framework of the United Nations and it is one of the complete return of territorial integrity in Mali."
Hollande is pushing for African forces to take over for French troops that have been battling insurgents.
The Tuareg rebel group MNLA has been fighting for a Tuareg homeland. It seized part of northern Mali last year and later joined forces with Islamic militants when the Malian government collapsed. The Tuaregs later split with the militants when they imposed conservative Islamic law in the north, and the MNLA now says it backs the French military operation in Mali.