France has deployed Dassault Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates to safeguard its military installations amid escalating regional tensions and Iranian drone activity, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed Tuesday.
France maintains several hundred navy, air force and army personnel in the UAE, with Rafale aircraft stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi. According to Barrot, the aircraft and their crews have been mobilized to secure French facilities and conduct airspace protection operations following recent drone threats.
“These Rafales and their pilots are fully mobilized to ensure the security of our facilities,” Barrot said in an interview with BFMTV, noting that missions were carried out over the weekend to neutralize aerial threats and reinforce defensive measures.
The minister confirmed that on Sunday a hangar at a French base in the UAE was struck by a drone. Discussions are ongoing with Emirati authorities to strengthen defensive coordination and enhance protections for French assets in the region.
Barrot also clarified that the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently operating in the North Atlantic as part of a previously scheduled multinational exercise and has not been redeployed to the Mediterranean. “To the best of my knowledge, it has not changed course,” he said.
The heightened security posture follows U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on March 1 that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prompting retaliatory drone activity targeting U.S. allies and military assets across the Gulf.
Authorities in Fujairah reported that debris from a drone interception ignited a fire at an oil industry zone Tuesday; the blaze was later contained. In Abu Dhabi, a drone strike on a fuel tank terminal on Monday triggered a fire, though operations continued without disruption.
Technology company Amazon confirmed that two of its UAE-based data centers were directly struck by drones, temporarily disrupting cloud services in parts of the Middle East.
As military exchanges intensify across the region, France and other European partners are reinforcing protective measures for personnel and strategic assets stationed in the Gulf.
