The French military targeted drones sent by Iran to attack Israel before a ceasefire was reached in the 12-day conflict, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu says.
“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 says at a parliamentary debate over the situation in the Middle East.
Sharing a clip from the debate in a post on X, Lecornu writes, “Our armed forces did not take part in the strikes on Iran. But we are protecting our bases in the region, in legitimate self-defense.”
France “intercepted several Iranian drones whose trajectory toward Israel passed over our installations,” he adds.
According to the IDF, Iran launched about 550 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel during the conflict, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday.
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