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The French Connection to autocratic regimes



Can France remain passive in the region? No, I don’t think so, I think we are a great balancing power, as I have had the opportunity to mention, our role is to act.

We cannot act for Lebanon, we cannot act for Iraq, we cannot act against terrorism in the region – which, I remind you, struck us in 2015 – if we do not put ourselves in a position to discuss with everyone and to have strategic and trusting relations with the partners who follow our agenda.

French President, Emmanuel Macron




We have been making Rafale offers to this country for years. As you can remember, we have sold Mirage 2000 planes in the 2000s, these planes have been delivered throughout the 2000s. They are now becoming old, and it’s time to update them and move towards the next generation, which is the Rafale.

Eric Trappier,  Dassault CEO


We received this morning at around 11 am, 33 injured people after the air raid on the biscuit factory in Wadi Rabi as well as seven people who were killed, four of them were Libyans, one Nigerian and two from Bangladesh and we have, of course, proceeded with the necessary medical treatment for the wounded in the National Heart Centre.

Abd al-Fattah al-Sayes,  Spokesperson, National Heart Center Hospital


In the words of Lina al-Hathloul, the sister of prominent Saudi women’s’ rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, “Macron is trying to rehabilitate the man who tortured my sister, killed Khashoggi, cut his body into pieces, [and] created the worst humanitarian crisis in a neighboring country.” “But all good, Macron has upcoming elections and needs his deals done.” 

With his visit to the Saudi kingdom, Macron has been accused of putting ‘deals’ before human rights, though he seems not to be disturbed at all by the accusation. 

Actually, they are supporting groups like the Saudis who are killing people in Yemen. So France, like the rest of the, west is using these organizations like Amnesty or Human Rights Watch when it suits them.

So when they think okay we will tell something, but actually they commit atrocities in the name of human rights, you can say, especially in Yemen now, but the whole of the Middle East they did; still do.

Sonja Van Den Ende, Covert Action Magazine

During his visit to the Saudi Kingdom, the French president underscored the necessity of working for “stability in the region” while failing to mention that the road to stability cannot bypass freedom and human rights.

“Therefore, the strategic partnership, to which we give more power and meaning with the United Arab Emirates, follows this agenda: peace and stability in the region, fight against all extremes, fight against terrorism, and a very concrete cooperation on sensitive situations.”

Emmanuel Macron, French President



The urgency at present is for France to stop these arms transfers to Saudi Arabia, to the United Arab Emirates, that it no longer contributes – through these transfers – to the commission of crimes against humanity in Yemen.

Aymeric Elluin, Human Rights Activist

All of these crimes never made the French think twice before signing arms deals with the coalition.

On December 3, the investigative website Disclose revealed that France authorized deliveries of tens of thousands of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2016, knowing that they could be used in Yemen. 

I think it’s good that it’s finally out in the open, that some people like, we know already for a long time that France is involved in the Middle East, actually, since 1948, when countries like Lebanon and Syria gained their independence, but they are still mingling around in the Middle East because they, as we know, already they are sending weapons it was already known in 2015, I think, that they were sending weapons to Yemen.

And we never forget what happened in Syria. They were, I think, one of the key players together with Britain to send weapons to Syria. So they always have this and of course,… In North Africa, you know, they had other colonies.

So yeah, it’s good it’s out in the open, that maybe the broad public knows now that France is a key player, still a key player in the Middle East, and trying to mingle around there [sic].

Sonja Van Den Ende, Covert Action Magazine

Documents obtained by Disclose show that, under former President François Hollande, the French State authorized the delivery of nearly 150,000 shells to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the heat of the Yemen war. 

They, they had the idea of getting back to border partition so they will want to establish their role for themselves in the region.

Now the US has a lot of, facing a lot of problems, and is more focused on the outcome on Australia and China, the Chinese South Sea so they are neglecting the Middle East.

And France sees a very big role for itself in the Middle East again, fortunately, so they will sell the weapons most likely also to Saudi Arabia, and hopefully it will not result in another war again, but let’s hope for the best.

Sonja Van Den Ende, Covert Action Magazine

Disclose confirmed that Paris sold the Saudi forces 41,500 shells made by Gongas Inc.; and sold the Emirati Army 3,000 anti-tank shells, 10,000 smoke shells, 50,000 explosive shells and 50,000 artillery rockets made by the Nexter Group. 

The majority of the victims in the conflict, related to the fighting, are cases of air strikes, air strikes committed by the coalition with French means.

The Mirage 2000-9 Emiriens (fighter planes) were sold by France, surely before the start of the conflict, but they are maintained in operational conditions by France, with laser-guiding systems, which are French, like those in Saudi Arabia.

These are systems that help in guiding bombs towards their targets.

Aymeric Elluin, Human Rights Activist

In the context of the Yemen War, France can be viewed as the embodiment of Western hypocrisy; preaching the virtues of human rights while in reality putting profits before anything else.

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