France: The Mouse is Roaring

France is belatedly stepping up to the plate in Lebanon, and doing some damage control to its image:

The French foreign minister on Thursday announced a series of subtle changes to his country's foreign policy designed in part to give Paris a louder voice in world affairs, such as Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
At a wide-ranging news conference, Philippe Douste-Blazy announced plans for a new French naval role off Lebanon and signaled a possible easing in his country's insistence that Iran halt uranium enrichment before agreeing to new talks with the Islamic regime over its contested nuclear program...
France's navy has two frigates and a transport ship in the eastern Mediterranean and is beefing up its role in a United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon from 400 to 2,000 soldiers.
"Once again, France has stepped up in a crisis," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told parliament, where a wide spectrum of lawmakers supports aid for Lebanon. "It has taken its responsibilities, it has known how to make its voice heard."

They may be some help, if they actually detain their friends the Iranians from sending arms into the region.