A French military base in Gao, Mali, was targeted by a rocket attack on Saturday night.

A local source told Sputnik a rocket attack targeted the French military base in Gao, northern Mali, and no casualties were reported.

Dozens of protestors gathered in the independence square in Mali earlier today. Malians have marched in the thousands in the capital in response to protests calls to denounce the French intervention in Mali and demand the withdrawal of the Operation Barkhane forces.

Last week, just a day after France violated Mali's airspace, Paris asserted that its military wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

France made it clear that it is adamant about forcing its military presence in France to "fend off the jihadist insurgency." However, the European former colonizer also said it would not be staying if the situation were to escalate and lose control. 

French President Emmanuel Macron had announced in June reducing the number of French troops in the Sahel region, nearly eight years after the French intervention began.

In early January, a Malian army spokesperson announced that Russian soldiers arrive in Timbuktu to train Malian soldiers in a base from which foreign forces had withdrawn.

Russian forces arriving in Mali angered France and other Western nations, claiming that among the Russian forces was the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization "facing accusations of committing human rights violations in other countries."

Mali denied the Western claims, stressing that the Russian forces were in the country as part of a bilateral agreement between Bamako and Moscow.