Macron Says France to Deploy Military Assets to Protect Saudi Oil Port
“We are going to send military assets, meaning soldiers, radars, and defence systems to protect this site,” Macron said in an evening television interview.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would deploy military assets to help protect Saudi Arabia’s strategic Red Sea port of Yanbu following a series of attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
“We are going to send military assets, meaning soldiers, radars, and defense systems to protect this site,” Macron said in an evening television interview.
The announcement came after Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted six ballistic missiles fired toward the Taif and Yanbu areas on Thursday. Greek military personnel operating a Patriot air defense system in the wider Yanbu region also reportedly intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone.
Yanbu is a key outlet for Saudi crude exports because it is the Red Sea terminus of the kingdom’s East-West Pipeline, which connects oil-producing facilities in the east with the Red Sea and provides an alternative route when shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted.
The pipeline has assumed greater importance amid the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has relied heavily on the route to move crude toward Yanbu, although the pipeline was temporarily shut down earlier this month after attacks damaged several facilities. Partial operations have since resumed.
The attacks have heightened concerns over global oil supplies and energy prices, as disruptions to both the Hormuz route and Saudi Arabia’s alternative Red Sea export infrastructure could further constrain crude shipments.
France has previously condemned Houthi attacks against civilian infrastructure in Yemen and Saudi Arabia and called on the group to halt military operations.