France to protect key Saudi oil terminal as Houthis step up missile attacks

President Emmanuel Macron said France would send troops to defend an oil plant in Saudi Arabia as the Iran-backed Houthi militia took responsibility for new attacks on the kingdom.

Macron said in a television interview Thursday with TF1 and France 2 that he would send soldiers and military support to help protect the Saudi port of Yanbu. Saudi Arabia came under attack from the Houthi militia on Thursday, with the kingdom saying it intercepted missiles fired towards the Red Sea port of Yanbu and the city of Taif.

“We are going to send military assets – that is soldiers, radar systems and defence systems – to protect the Yanbu site on the Red Sea,” Macron said, adding that the French military would not participate in combat. “We aren’t going to get involved in any conflict, but to protect this site.”

Macron’s pledge comes as tensions have been rising in France over surging fuel prices, with Macron insisting that the situation was the result of international conflicts, including the US war in Iran and its disruption of the Strait of Hormuz.