French industrial output fell by 0.6 percent in July, following a 1.4 percent drop the previous month, official data said Tuesday, belying other indications that the economy is perking up.

The drop was more pronounced in the manufacturing sector at 0.7 percent in July from the previous month, including a 11.2 percent drop in car output, said the French statistics agency INSEE.

French President Francois Hollande stressed his country's keenness on Lebanon's stability and the importance of adhering to the Baabda Declaration, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

He added that the Lebanese people should avoid “reactions that may lead their country towards situations that do not benefit Lebanon.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday on the necessity to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Suleiman's statement came during a meeting with his French counterpart Francois Hollande in France's southern city of Nice.

The United States and France said Saturday that international backing was growing for military strikes to punish the Syrian regime for alleged chemical attacks, after European Union nations called for a "strong" response.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the number of countries ready to take military action was now in the "double digits", after earlier attending a meeting where EU foreign ministers united to call for action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The United States' Secretary of State assured on Saturday that his country is not paving the way to evacuate all its employees from Beirut, ahead of the possible U.S.-led military strike against Syria.

"We did not recall our staff from Beirut,” John Kerry stated at a joint press conference with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius in Paris.

President Michel Suleiman met on Saturday with Lebanon's delegation to the Francophone Games in southern France, saying Lebanese youth resisted Israel and defeated terrorism through the army.

“Lebanese youth have the will and have been capable of making wider achievements than any other country,” Suleiman told the delegation that is participating in the games in the coastal city of Nice.

More than two-thirds of French people are against the country taking part in international military action in Syria, according to a newspaper poll published Saturday.

The survey for French daily Le Figaro showed the country's opposition to military action against the Damascus regime has increased markedly since the end of August.

President Michel Suleiman on Friday arrived in the southern French city of Nice, where he will take part in the opening of the 2013 Francophone Games and hold talks with French President Francois Hollande.

Suleiman was accompanied by First Lady Wafaa Suleiman, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Samir Moqbel and a Lebanese delegation, according to state-run National News Agency.

World leaders at the G20 summit on Friday failed to bridge their bitter divisions over U.S. plans for military action against the Syrian regime, with Washington signaling that it has given up on securing Russia's support at the UN on the crisis.

A dinner hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin that ran on into the early hours of the morning failed to win a breakthrough on how to halt a conflict in Syria that has claimed more than 100,000 lives and which is now in its third year.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged lawmakers Wednesday to back military action against the Syrian regime in response to "the most massive and terrifying use" of chemical weapons this century.

The debate came as Syria's deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad ridiculed France as an American stooge.