Since Saturday, the entire Middle East has fallen into a growing conflict with the attack by the USA and Israel against Iran. Thousands of French people find themselves “stranded” in the region.
A major conflict
After a first attempt to bring down the Iranian regime during the June 2025 war, the United States and Israel carried out a powerful and coordinated attack against Iran, decapitating part of the regime of the Islamic Republic in the first hours of the attack. Rather than focusing its retaliatory efforts against its two belligerents, Iran has chosen to provoke an explosion in the region, targeting Israeli territory at all costs, but also the Arab Emirates which finds itself under bombs, from Doha to Dubai.
This unprecedented crisis also has consequences for all French people present or passing through these territories and who find themselves in a very complex situation. Especially since the situation does not improve with the following days since the conflict also extends to Lebanon with the entry of Hezbollah’s conflict against the United States and Israel.
The situation of the French in the region
Since the opening of hostilities, France, through the government, has stood ready to evacuate its very numerous nationals present in the region, “ when the situation allows“. It is important to understand that at present, airspace is completely closed, not only in Israel, but in all countries in the region, including more surprising areas like Dubai.
In addition to the expatriates living there (at least 168,000), Gulf countries like Abu Dhabi or Dubai welcome not only many visiting tourists, but also transit trips through airports during long-distance travel (Dubai is one of the largest airports in the world).
All these French people are currently stuck on site, with no prospect in the coming days of hoping for a too dangerous evacuation by air. As La Dépêche recalls, “ no obligation under international law obliges States to repatriate their nationals“, affirms the European Court of Human Rights.
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The closest and most logical prospect would be to proclaim a temporary ceasefire to carry out evacuations, but we are already talking about thousands of people and it will take a long time to bring them back. Another hypothesis, for example for tourists present in Israel, would be to evacuate them by road via Jordan then Egypt, but again it is risky, and the number is far too large for this to be the only viable solution.
And in any case, to date, the French Embassy in the Emirates reminds that it is impossible to leave the territory for the moment and encourages the French to follow the security instructions, “ stay at home, stay away from windows, doors and open areas“. According to a tourist we were able to contact on site, the French Consulate in Dubai regularly keeps them informed of the situation and the postponement of flights until the situation changes.
