France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, , raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels.

France boosted its troops in Mali on Tuesday as armored vehicles arrived in the capital, Bamako, as part of a planned 2,500-strong deployment to battle Al Qaeda-linked militants.

French fighter aircraft continued to bomb rebel targets overnight and French news reports said Tuesday that Islamist fighters had abandoned the key towns of Gao and Timbuktu.

Defense chiefs representing the regional Economic Community of West African States met in Bamako to discuss plans to send in a 3,300-troop regional force, about 900 of whom are to come from Nigeria.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told reporters in Lisbon that the Obama administration did not plan to put troops on the ground in Mali and that the U.S. continued to work on what type of assistance it would provide France. U.S. officials said Monday that they were preparing to ferry additional French troops to Mali and making plans to send drones or other surveillance aircraft and help with the refueling of French fighter jets.