French Troops captured by Syrian Forces

No word on why the French Officers were in Syria, only that they were captured.
Mercenaries?

All this while the country waits for the arrival of Kofi Annan, the new UN and Arab League envoy, who's vowed to stop the killing and start dialogue.

More to come..

Why the Syrians do not film the French officers and show the world? Because it can be anybody - from totally made up lies via private arms dealers via French experts explaining how to use the weapons to French special forces.
But right now it sounds pretty weak.

Last week it was Turkish officers detained.....!
It must be a regular coalition of the willing over there.....!
The situation will not be resolved by dialogue, unless the west has decided against war with Iran......

Special Forces are just over the border. Can they possibly be some SF blokes? Why else would they be in there?

Perhaps these French 'troops' are actually the journalists that have remained behind, and are just being labelled as 'troops' by the Syrian govt.

Britain last night withdrew its diplomatic staff from Syria because of a growing risk to their safety, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced...

French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels remained in Baba Amr.

source

Its hard for me to imagine that of any nation to have troops over the Syrian border it would be the French

Uh... that's weird, there's been no mention of it in the french media? There has, however, been lots of reports on the journalists that are stuck there the last few days.... is it possible that has been misconstrued here?

I tell you now, French Troops are NOT to be messed with!!!

They are one of the most organized Military on the planet and will not take this lightly.

This is a turning point of no return if it is true and accurate.

More info is needed here. keep digging.

reply to post by Bluesma

No, the information is true.

France opens negotiations with Syria to recover its 18 agents

On 13 February 2012, Thierry Meyssan revealed on the first Russian television channel that Syria had captured a dozen French soldiers. Voltaire Network is now in a position to confirm that as of 26 February the number of French prisoners is 18 (eighteen).

If Paris admits that they were on a mission, they will be entitled to prisoner-of-war status and protected by the relative Geneva Convention; but if Paris denies having sent them, they will be considered as foreign civilians and judged in Syria for their crimes, which are punishable by the death penalty.

France has opened three negotiation channels via the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman.
The ambassador of France, Eric Chevallier, returned urgently to Damascus on 23 February.
Kofi Annan has been appointed as the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis.

Read the full paper here ----> Voltaire.net

* Update: 19th French agent arrested in Syria. Read here

I've been watching the evening news here, and not one channel has made any mention of this! I am furious if it's true and being hidden from the french public!
Now, I searched the net and all sources go back to the article by VoltaireNet.org. That article has been copied to many blogs and forums, but no major news source has picked it up.
Before I go linking and expressing my fury on Facebook, does anyone have any info on how reliable a source this Voltaire site is??

Originally posted by Bluesma
does anyone have any info on how reliable a source this Voltaire site is??

They seem to be an organization that likes stirring the pot a little bit.

The Voltaire Network was especially vocal after the attacks on the World Trade Center of the 11th of September 2001, Meyssan claiming that 9/11 was an inside job.

The Voltaire Network frequently publishes grave accusations regarding important events or personalities. Notable instances are:

In 1997, the Network accused Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, Archbishop of San Salvador, of being involved in several crimes, including the murder of the former archbishop. Although he denied, he had to resign his position of general in the army of San Salvador.

In a best selling book, 9/11 The Big Lie, Thierry Meyssan, president of the network, claimed that the 11th of September 2001 was due to an internal plot within the US administration. The Network broadcast this declaration widely.

In May 2002, the Network claimed that the coup d'état against president Hugo Chávez had been organised from the White House, citing names of personalities allegedly involved. These claims were used by general procuror of Venezuela Danilo Anderson, and were repeated by Chávez himself. The US Department of State formally denied any involvement.

The Network claims that the "Islamic Army in Iraq", who had taken French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, had done so in complicity with the US Department.

In 2005, the Network published a controversial article about the new French minister of foreign trade, Christine Lagarde, titled With Christine Lagarde, the US industry enters the French government

wiki

Sensationalist? Maybe.
Trustworthy, not to me.

But, that doesnt mean that the story of the french troops is untrue, although I havnt been able to corroborate it elsewhere yet.

And the man Thierry Meyssan, who broke this story, reach his wiki
here

He is labelled a conspiracy theorist, he would fit in quite well here on ATS.

On August 22, 2011, Meyssan while stuck at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli, reported live, by voice, to the Russian television network Russia Today. He claimed that, contrary to most reports, Gaddafi forces had driven the rebels from most of the city. At the same time he described that he felt he was in danger, accusing all of his fellow journalists of being spies from the CIA and the MI6, since he felt that he was the only journalist trapped at the Rixos that seemed to be reporting first-hand knowledge of who was winning the battle for Tripoli.

We know who actually won the battle for Tripolo.