(VOVworld) – France has admitted that more than 1,200 French citizens and residents are now linked to foreign jihad. The French defense minister said on Wednesday that about 10 of those who have gone to Syria or Iraq to fight with Islamic extremists are former French soldiers. Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian insisted the phenomenon remains an "extreme rarity." France announced sweeping new measures to counter homegrown terrorism on Wednesday, including giving security forces better weapons and protection, going on an intelligence agent hiring spree and creating a better database of anyone suspected of extremist links.