Wednesday, March, 4 2026 - France has deployed Dassault Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates to protect its military installations from Iranian attacks, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday, March 3.
France maintains hundreds of navy, air force and army
personnel in the UAE, with Rafale aircraft stationed at Al-Dhafra air base near
Abu Dhabi. “These Rafales and their pilots are mobilised to ensure the security
of our facilities,” Barrot told BFMTV when asked about French action over the
weekend to neutralise Iranian drones. “They have carried out operations to
secure the airspace above our bases.”
Barrot confirmed that on Sunday “a hangar at a French base
in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a drone. Exchanges are multiplying to
determine both how the country can defend itself against future attacks and how
France can protect its interests there,” he added.
He also clarified that France’s flagship aircraft carrier,
the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, was operating in the North
Atlantic as part of a previously scheduled multinational exercise and had not
been redirected to the Mediterranean. “To the best of my knowledge, it has not
changed course,” Barrot said.
The deployment comes after the United States and Israel
launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, March 1, killing Iran’s supreme leader
Ali Khamenei. Tehran has since targeted US allies and military assets across
the Gulf.
Authorities in the UAE reported that debris from a drone
interception caused a fire at an oil industry zone in Fujairah on Tuesday,
which was later contained. In Abu Dhabi, a drone struck a fuel tank terminal on
Monday, igniting a fire though operations were not affected.
Technology company Amazon said late Monday that two of its
data centres in the UAE were “directly struck” by drones, disrupting cloud
services in parts of the Middle East. As military exchanges intensify across
the region, European powers are increasing protective measures for their
personnel and assets stationed in the Gulf.
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