France says it intercepted drones targeting Israel prior to Iran ceasefire
"I can confirm that the French army intercepted less than 10 drones in the last few days during the different military operations conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel, either by ground-to-air systems or via our Rafale fighter jets," Lecornu said during a parliamentary debate on the situation in the Middle East.

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Gulf Today
5 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Starmer's migrant deal with Macron is a promising start
The prime minister has been criticised for the modesty of the agreement that he has secured with the French president on cross-Channel migration. He should instead be congratulated for having obtained a returns deal at all. It is more than his Conservative predecessors managed, and it is certainly more than Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform and peddler of "simple" solutions, could do, according to The Independent. The modesty of the arrangement is sensible. Returning undocumented migrants is a complex matter, legally and logistically. It is a good idea to show "proof of concept", as government sources put it, on a small scale, to show that it would be possible with larger numbers. The pilot scheme has already been attacked by the Conservatives on the grounds that it would not be a deterrent. If Britain is able to return 50 people a week to France, that would amount to a small fraction, about 5 per cent, of the numbers currently arriving by small boat. As Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, points out, this means that those attempting the crossing would know that they have a 95 per cent chance of staying in the UK as long as they make it halfway across the Channel, when they have to be picked up by the British authorities. But Mr Philp is missing at least two points. One is that, if the scheme works, it could be expanded. The other is that he argues that the Rwanda scheme would have acted as a deterrent, even though its total capacity of a few hundred would have taken even fewer migrants than this pilot scheme. Mr Farage is even further off beam. His policy is to return migrants to French beaches without permission and by violating French waters. It is hard to see how that can end well, let alone with many migrants being returned. He and Mr Philp would do better to congratulate Sir Keir Starmer for his negotiating skill and his success in landing the deal with Emmanuel Macron that Rishi Sunak tried and failed to secure. We will now be able to discover what is possible rather than listening to lectures about what would have happened if the Rwanda scheme, which the Conservatives had years to implement but which Mr Sunak chose to abandon by calling an election, had gone ahead. Sir Keir was right to cancel the cruel, expensive and ineffective scheme, and now offers the prospect of something better and potentially workable. The whole point of a pilot scheme is that we will be able to find out whether migrants will be able to frustrate the policy by appealing to the courts. The plan will probably require a new fast-track legal channel, so that new boat arrivals can be turned round quickly, in which case it would make sense to test that on a smaller scale. And the other half of the plan, to take an equivalent number of genuine refugees whose claim of a family connection to the UK has been accepted at a processing centre in France, is also fraught with difficulty. How will claims be ranked in order of priority? Again, starting with small numbers is the right approach. Obviously, the end point desired by Sir Keir and indeed by most of the British people, would be a larger scheme which would then quickly become a very small one. If migrants knew that they could not stay in the UK, they would stop trying to cross the Channel altogether. Sir Keir's critics are right about one thing: deterrence is key. French beach patrols may stop some crossings, especially if the dinghies are punctured, but they cannot stop the demand for a new life in Britain. This scheme offers the chance of humane deterrence. This is a nettle that must be grasped, not just by the UK and France, but by the whole of Europe. Sir Keir and Mr Macron have made a promising start.


Middle East Eye
15 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Satellite images suggest Iran's attack on Qatar base damaged communications structure
The US's al-Udeid base in Qatar likely suffered damage as a result of Iran's highly choreographed missile attack in June, according to satellite images reviewed by news organisations. A geodesic dome housing equipment used for secure communications appeared to have suffered damage from the Iranian strikes, according to images first reported on Thursday by London-based news site Iran International from the geospatial analytics company, Satellogic. A satellite image of the US base before Iran's 23 June strike shows the large white globe intact. An image taken on 24 June after the attack shows the globe replaced by a black smear. The Associated Press also reported the damage by comparing satellite images obtained from Planet Labs of the base on the morning of 23 June - just before the attack - and the following days. 'It is possible a fragment or something else struck the dome, but given the destruction of the dome, it was likely an Iranian attack, possibly with a bomb-carrying drone, given the limited visible damage to surrounding structures,' the Associated Press report said. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters If a drone were used, it would suggest Iran was able to penetrate al-Udeid's air defences while the US and Qatar focused on shooting down ballistic missiles. That could give Iran insights into gaps in American air defences for future attacks. The damage to the base appears to be small, but it is notable because the US and Qatar had time to prepare for the Iranian attack well in advance. Both the US and Qatar used Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to shoot down the Iranian ballistic missiles. Al-Udeid hosts roughly 10,000 US soldiers and serves as the regional headquarters for US Central Command (Centcom). Iran receives Chinese surface-to-air missile batteries after Israel ceasefire deal Read More » Middle East Eye revealed that Iran indirectly coordinated the attack with the US using Qatar as an intermediary. The warning from Iran allowed the US to pull nearly all of its troops from the base, in addition to taking aircraft and other equipment out to Saudi Arabia. Defence analysts say that the US was expected to fire two to four interceptors for each missile fired. Iran shot 14 missiles at al-Udeid, according to US President Donald Trump. The Guardian reported that the US fired close to 30 patriot interceptors to down the Iranian barrage. Dan Caine, US Air Force general and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told The War Zone news site that the operation to defend al-Udeid was the 'largest single Patriot engagement in US military history'. The attack was seen as de-escalatory by Iran. Shortly after, Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran that has held since. Trump downplayed the attack at the time, calling it a 'very weak response' to the US's bombing of Iran's Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow nuclear sites. He said of the 14 missiles Iran fired, 13 were intercepted and one was 'set free' because it was 'nonthreatening'. To be sure, Trump left some room in his statement describing the attack, suggesting he knew some damage was done to al-Udeid. 'I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done,' he said. Iran lauded the attack as a major success. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said al-Udeid was the 'target of a destructive and powerful missile attack', while Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the base was 'smashed'. The satellite imagery reported by the Associated Press and Iran International appears to refute those statements, with no other damage visible besides the dome and potentially one building suffering blast damage. The damaged dome is likely a radome, protecting a Modernised Enterprise Terminal, or MET. The satellite communications system was installed in 2016, according to the US Air Force, at a cost of $15m.


Dubai Eye
a day ago
- Dubai Eye
Hostage deal nears amid ceasefire talks between Israel, Hamas
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