In a brief message on X, the French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu unexpectedly announced on Tuesday, November 14, that he was setting off on a tour of the Middle East. The tour began on Wednesday in Egypt and is due to continue in Saudi Arabia, followed on Thursday by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, before concluding on Friday with a stopover in Israel, the first for a French defense minister since 2000.
Lecornu was officially asked to make this trip by French President Emmanuel Macron, in an attempt to contribute to the prevention of a regional escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas. The trip is also intended as a continuation of the president's trip to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan at the end of October.
Three weeks after the presidential tour, the mission entrusted to Lecornu also seems to be intended to make up for a number of Macron's proposals and statements which have caused a stir in Arab countries and in Israel. France, which lost 40 of its citizens in the October 7 attacks, and still has eight missing ones who are presumed to be hostages, is still trying to establish its diplomatic and military role in the vast geopolitical upheavals provoked by the conflict.
Macron's unexpected and uncoordinated proposal on October 24, made while he was speaking alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, to deploy the international coalition against the Islamic State organization (IS) against Hamas, was met with considerable wariness by many regional stakeholders. The next day, in Cairo, his impromptu announcement that a French navy helicopter carrier, the Tonnerre, would be sent to the Mediterranean – described as a hospital ship, even though it had not been equipped for such a mission – forced the French general staff to rush to deploy a second, better-equipped carrier, the Dixmude.
Officially, Lecornu's visit is mainly for operational and security purposes: The French armed forces have been helping to transport humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, through cargo flights to Egypt. France also has a major military base in the United Arab Emirates, where 650 troops – including a squadron of Rafale combat aircraft – are permanently stationed. The deployment of the two helicopter carriers addresses concerns about a possible deterioration in the situation in Lebanon, where the Iran-affiliated Shiite movement Hezbollah regularly fires rockets into Israel, prompting Israel's retaliation.
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