France will send soldiers, radar and air-defence systems to Saudi Arabia to help protect Yanbu, a Red Sea oil port linked to the kingdom’s main pipeline around the Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday.
Macron said the deployment had been agreed with Saudi Arabia and would have a strictly defensive purpose. Its role would be to protect the site without drawing France into the conflict, he said in televised interviews with TF1 and France 2.
No immediate details were available on the number of personnel France will send, when they will arrive or how long the mission will last. The quantity and technical specifications of the radar and air-defence systems were also unknown.
The announcement followed an attack on Thursday in which Saudi forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi movement towards Yanbu and the city of Taif. The Houthis said they had launched missile and drone strikes against “sensitive targets” in the kingdom, naming Saudi Aramco infrastructure in Yanbu.
Yanbu is a key point in Saudi Arabia’s oil-export system. It is the terminus of the roughly 1,200-kilometer East-West pipeline, which carries crude from Saudi Arabia’s eastern fields to the Red Sea coast. Before the recent attacks, the pipeline carried around 4 to 5 million barrels a day.
Drone attacks on 10 and 11 September led to a temporary shutdown of the pipeline. Tanker loadings at Yanbu have yet to resume, according to market reporting.
The disruption has followed the collapse of a years-long truce in July. Since then, the Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, struck Saudi tankers and territory, and seized swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast. That coast is vital to Saudi oil exports.
Regional officials said Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has sought air-defence support from Pakistan, Egypt, France and Britain. A Greek-operated Patriot battery deployed in Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone in the wider Yanbu area on Thursday.
Britain has agreed to provide an RAF Voyager tanker for air-to-air refuelling during Saudi operations. Pakistan has pledged to defend Saudi Arabia “to any extent”. The operational relationship between the planned French mission and existing Greek, Italian and other allied air-defence assets remains unclear.
About 80 countries told the United Nations that Iran must urgently reopen Hormuz. They also condemned Iran and the Houthis for attacks in the region.
Fighting in Yemen has killed dozens of people on both sides, according to a tally from seven sources who spoke to AFP. Macron’s announcement places France among the countries offering defensive support for Saudi oil infrastructure, while leaving unanswered whether the French role could later expand beyond site protection.
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