Security developments in Britain, France and Lithuania

A man with dual British and Iranian citizenship has been released on bail after he was arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts in connection with an incident at the Royal Air Force's Fairford air base, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The 25-year-old man was arrested in the London borough of Westminster on Thursday, and searches of two properties in the same area have concluded.

It is noteworthy that a major state of emergency was declared and dozens of homes were evacuated, after the police received a report about 3 “suspicious vehicles” near the air base in Gloucestershire, last weekend.

Five other men in their twenties were also arrested and later released on conditional police bail. They are all British citizens from London.

The police reported that investigations into the circumstances of these events are still ongoing.

British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting had indicated that Iran was likely responsible for a failed attempt to target the Fairford air base used by the United States, after the police announced, on Thursday, the arrest of a person holding dual British and Iranian citizenship.

The 27-year-old man was arrested in London on suspicion of preparing to carry out terrorist acts, bringing the number of detainees in connection with the incident to six, according to Bloomberg News.

Another man, a British national, was also subjected to interrogation after being warned that his statements might be used as evidence against him.

“We are looking with the police and our security services at a range of leads and possibilities, but as our Prime Minister said, Iran is likely to be responsible,” Streeting said, stressing that the UK has not yet officially attributed the attack to Iran.

He described what happened in the vicinity of the British Royal Air Force base in Fairford as an “extremely serious incident.” The police did not find any explosives, but they seized a quantity of fuel at the site of the accident.

The five men were later released on bail, in a decision that sparked criticism from US President Donald Trump. The United States uses the air base to launch strikes on Iran.

The French authorities arrested more than 1,700 people, Friday, as part of the student protest movement that included the closure of secondary schools and acts of violence in recent days, while organizers called for continued mobilization on Tuesday, in the absence of “concrete measures,” according to Agence France-Presse.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Friday evening that 1,747 people had been arrested on the same day, bringing the number to more than 5,000 since Monday, due to the closure of secondary schools.

He pointed out that “there were 735 institutions affected by the mobilization... and we witnessed acts of violence near 158 institutions; Projectiles were thrown, and law enforcement forces, teachers, journalists, and passers-by were exposed...”

The protests began on September 17 in the Paris region, before quickly spreading throughout the country. Students in the final years of secondary school closed the entrances to their schools and clashed with the police.

Students say that school hours are excessively long, and that conditions in schools are inadequate, including high temperatures in classrooms, as well as frequent staff absences.

The government says these complaints are legitimate, but rejects acts of violence. The protests also gained a political dimension, a little more than 6 months before the presidential elections, as the government accused the radical leftist “France Proud” party, whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is running for president, of being behind the movement.

At the same time, Education Minister Edward Jeffrey, after meeting with movement organizers on Friday, announced the launch of an “action plan” soon to “accelerate the replacement” of teachers, especially in the first and last years of secondary school.

He acknowledged that he “will not be in a position to make a decision regarding the beginning of the 2027 academic year,” which will follow the presidential elections.

The Union of Secondary School Students (USL) responded with a call to “continue mobilization... and join the third semester movement on Tuesday,” a day of major national demonstrations, according to Riad Rani, president of this student union.

A broad coalition of national education unions called for participation, “including through strikes.”

The National Crisis Management Center in Lithuania revealed that Vilnius Airport was closed for less than an hour today (Saturday), and fighters belonging to the NATO Air Police Mission were dispatched to the Baltic region, after a suspected drone was reported to have entered the airspace. Lithuania is coming from Belarus, according to Reuters.

The Center said that the authorities are working to determine the reasons for the warning related to the drone.

This comes after Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas announced yesterday (Friday) that his country is testing an air surveillance system developed in Ukraine to protect against drone threats, according to the German News Agency.

“Aerial threats change rapidly, so we adapt our solutions accordingly,” Kaunas said in a statement. “Instead of developing everything from scratch, we adapt systems already in use in Ukraine.”

Ukraine, which is in its fifth year of defending itself against the comprehensive Russian invasion, is a world leader in drone warfare.

The Lithuanian authorities said that the “Heavenly Fortress” system uses artificial intelligence to monitor and track low-flying drones and cruise missiles, based on sound waves and electromagnetic signals.

The ministry explained that the system can classify observed objects in real time.