France to Deploy Military Forces to Protect Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu Oil Port

French President Emmanuel Macron outlined a military deployment to Saudi Arabia during an interview on TF1 and France 2 television. The move aims to secure the port city of Yanbu, which houses major oil refineries and serves as the starting point for crude oil transport bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices have surged recently as the alternative route through Yanbu faced missile attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis according to reporting from Reuters. Greek forces stationed in the wider region also intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone using a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system as civil defense alerts warned residents across Mecca, Tabuk, Jeddah, Yanbu, and Taif.

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The deployment represents an effort by Paris to contain the impact of ongoing conflicts on global energy markets. Macron emphasized that the mission is strictly defensive and coordinated with Saudi authorities following finalized discussions.

We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defence systems, to protect this site – not to get us involved in any conflicts, but to protect this site,

President Emmanuel Macron, via Reuters

The Yanbu region on Saudi Arabia’s west coast is home to major oil refineries and a port that serves as the starting point of a bypass route for oil tankers trying to avoid the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict. Tankers fill up in Yanbu with oil from Saudi Arabia’s East West Pipeline, then take it north through the Suez Canal to Europe or south through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait toward Asia.

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The recent barrage involved six ballistic missiles fired at Red Sea ports and the southwestern city of Taif, which the Houthis claimed responsibility for firing. A spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said the missiles were intercepted and destroyed by coalition forces. The coalition, consisting of Arab and African nations, was formed in 2015 to intervene in the Yemeni civil war by defeating the Houthi movement.

The spokesman stated that the escalation and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly. Greek forces in Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone in the wider Yanbu region using a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system. Meanwhile, Saudi civil defenses issued alerts warning residents of potential incoming danger in Mecca, the northwestern area of Tabuk, in the Red Sea areas of Jeddah and Yanbu, and the southern area of Taif.

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Macron also addressed domestic economic concerns during his broadcast, warning that any potential U.S. ban on diesel exports—which the White House has denied is under consideration—would be “catastrophic,” both globally and for the US economy, while assuring the French that France had adequate gas and oil supplies as winter approaches and that Paris was actively working to ensure flows were not disrupted.