Middle East: Security situation ‘risks deteriorating very quickly’, warns Quai d’Orsay

Faced with tensions that continue to rise in the Middle East, the Quai d’Orsay recommended on Friday that French citizens should “absolutely refrain from traveling in the coming days” to Iran, Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. He also called for the “return of the families of diplomatic agents from Tehran.” and “a ban on missions of French civil servants to these countries.”

At the moment, these are “preventive” measures to “protect” French citizens, Christophe Lemoine, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained on Franceinfo on Saturday morning.

“We are in a situation of rising tensions in the region,” he added, warning that the security situation “risks deteriorating very quickly.” According to Christophe Lemoine, the Quai d’Orsay is following the developments of the situation “with great attention” and will “adapt” its messages accordingly.

French emigrants living in the affected territories are currently advised against returning to France by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The embassies and consulates on the ground are extremely mobilized to monitor the French communities living there,” stressed Christophe Lemoine, adding that they have received “vigilance and security messages” that will be updated regularly.

Their possible return to France will depend “on the development of the situation on the ground,” the deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman indicated.

Fears of an imminent Iranian attack

Insisting on the “very strong risk of escalation” in the region, Christophe Lemoine recalled that the priority of French diplomacy is to prevent it. “We call on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, (…) calm and debate,” he added. Paris is not alone in raising its alert level: The United States announced Thursday it was restricting the movement of its diplomatic personnel in Israel due to security concerns.

In another sign of tension, German airline Lufthansa and its Austrian subsidiary Austrian Airlines announced on Friday they were suspending their flights to and from Tehran until Thursday, April 18, and were no longer using Iranian airspace.

There is growing fear on the ground of an imminent Iranian attack on Israel. The United States announced Friday it was sending reinforcements to the Middle East as Israel braced for a possible Iranian attack. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah announced Friday it had fired “dozens of missiles” at Israeli positions in response to what it said were Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.

Tehran has vowed to respond to an attack attributed to Israel on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that, according to a non-governmental organization, killed 16 people, including two generals of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army.

At the stroke of midnight on Saturday, the Israeli army said alarms had sounded around the Gaza Strip, while Islamic Jihad, the second largest Palestinian Islamist group after Hamas, simultaneously claimed responsibility for shelling the Israeli city of Sderot in a “response” to strikes in Gaza.