France Expanding Military Presence in Eastern Mediterranean - Rafales and Frigates Dispatched

France’s armed forces will expand their presence in the eastern Mediterranean, in light of both a decline in Western influence in the Middle East and an escalation of tensions between Turkey and Greece over oil and gas exploration in which Paris has taken the side of the latter. The European country’s armed armed forces ministry announced on August 13th that its initial deployment would be comprised of a Lafayette Class frigate and two Rafale lightweight fighter jets. France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, stated regarding the planned deployment: “I have decided to temporarily reinforce the French military presence in the eastern Mediterranean in the coming days, in cooperation with European partners, including Greece.” France’s armed forces conducted joint exercises with Greek forces the following day off the southern island of Crete. 

Turkey notably dispatched  the research ship Orue Reis with a naval escort to disputed gas-rich waters, with Greece deploying warships to monitor the vessel. The two NATO member states notably have long-standing historical grievances, with Greece previously having been incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and placed under Turkish rule. France’s intervention comes as part of a generally more assertive and in some cases belligerent foreign policy, from taking the lead among Western powers in placing pressure on Iran and demanding its unilateral disarmament to illegal deployments of special forces to Syria, as well as to Yemen. It also follows a visit by President Macron to Lebanon, where he called for imposition of severe restrictions on the military capabilities of the Hezbollah militia, a longstanding adversary of Western interests in the region, and sought to push back against Iranian influence in the former French colony. France’s armed forces have faced a considerable decline over the past decade, largely due to economic crisis after 2008, and availability rates for both the Navy and the Air Force have notably remained low. By relying on special forces and on relatively small contingents of ships and aircraft, France has been able to retain sufficient forces for small scale power projection operations.