U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was the guest of honor, while two units of U.N. peacekeepers led the traditional march, the BBC reported.

The presence of Syrian President Bashar Assad created controversy, however, because of his alliance with Iran and for his support for groups classified by the United States and the European Union as terrorists.

Assad was in Paris for the inaugural meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean, a new international body with 43 member nations created to spark cooperation between the European Union, and African and Middle Eastern countries rimming the Mediterranean Sea.

Assad's presence angered a French veterans group, which charged Syria was behind the 1983 bombing of a Beirut building that killed 58 French soldiers.

"We feel uneasy" about French soldiers filing past Assad, said Jean-Luc Hemar, head of the Association of Veterans.

Sarkozy was to present a top civilian award to Ingrid Betancourt, who was held hostage in Columbia beginning in 2002. Betancourt, among 15 hostages rescued from Colombian rebels earlier this month, was to receive the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.