French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said Rafales “have carried out operations to secure the airspace above our bases” in the UAE.

France has hundreds of navy, air force and army personnel based in the UAE.

On Sunday, “a hangar at a French base in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a drone”, Barrot said.

“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.

France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was however, in the North Atlantic, as part of a previously planned multinational exercise, Barrot said, after he was asked if it had been sent to the Mediterranean.

To the best of his knowledge, it had not changed course, he said.