France's Foreign Minister Calls Yanbu Troop Deployment 'Strictly Defensive' as Houthi Attacks on Saudi Oil Escalate

Since a Houthi missile-and-drone barrage wounded 73 people and set fire to Saudi oil facilities on Tuesday, September 22, the conflict between Riyadh and Yemen's Iran-backed rebels has pulled France into its first direct military deployment of the renewed war.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told state broadcaster France 2 on Sunday that the deployment is "strictly defensive" and does not make Paris a party to the fight. "Does that mean at any time we can be considered co-belligerents? Never," Barrot said, according to the Times of India.

The comments follow President Emmanuel Macron's announcement Thursday, September 24, that France would send "soldiers, radar systems and defense systems" to protect the Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to Reuters coverage carried by Defense News. Yanbu feeds Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline, which can move up to seven million barrels of oil a day, making it the kingdom's main workaround since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively shut by the US-Iran war.

Attacks keep coming

Houthi forces said Thursday they hit Aramco facilities at Yanbu and a "sensitive target" in Riyadh, using ballistic and cruise missiles plus drones, Business Standard reported. Saudi authorities said they intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Yanbu and the city of Taif; no damage was confirmed, according to Al Jazeera reporting cited by the Times of India.

That came days after the larger Tuesday assault that hit Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait, wounding 73 people including women and children, according to the Associated Press via NPR and separately confirmed by CNN. The Saudi Energy Ministry said fires broke out at oil facilities and utilities in the southern region, temporarily halting operations, including near the 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery. Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel for the first time since July after the attack, CNN reported.

A source familiar with Saudi thinking told CNN that Riyadh is planning retaliation and has briefed US Central Command and European partners, though the source said the form and timing of any response remain unclear.

Regional response builds

Saudi Arabia is also leaning on allies beyond France. Under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed in August, Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani military chiefs were set to meet Friday, September 25, according to Business Standard. Turkey's General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu traveled to Saudi Arabia for those talks. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told Fox News the kingdom is "defending ourselves" and "responding as necessary" to Houthi attacks, according to Arab News, which also reported that France's move followed a September 23 GCC-France ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The question of 'defensive'

Sending radar units and defense systems to protect a combatant's critical energy infrastructure in the middle of an active war could be viewed as taking sides, whatever label Paris puts on it. French troops stationed at Yanbu will be within range of the same missiles targeting Aramco facilities. Defensive deployments elsewhere have drawn hostile fire before.

Barrot's response, per the Times of India, is that France has deployed similar defensive assets to protect allies since the US-Israeli war against Iran began, without becoming a combatant in that conflict either. He said the scale of the Yanbu deployment will depend on what Saudi Arabia actually requests, French capacity, and how the war develops, leaving the ceiling on troop numbers and equipment undefined for now.

Domestic friction at home

Macron used the same Thursday interview to warn French viewers about high energy prices and to dismiss a report by Spanish newspaper El Mundo that the CIA had warned European governments of possible drone attacks from the Mediterranean. "I can deny it. The CIA did not inform French services," Macron said, according to Defense News. He separately called a potential US ban on diesel exports, which the White House has denied considering, "catastrophic" for the global and American economy.

Macron's broader Russia posture took a hit this week after France secured an EU sanctions exemption for Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov, citing national security. Defense News reported the move "shocked" other EU members and prompted Azerbaijan to pardon a jailed French national in an apparent reciprocal gesture.

No timetable has been set for when French troops, radar units and defense systems will actually arrive at Yanbu, and Barrot has not specified numbers. The open question is whether Saudi Arabia's expected retaliation against the Houthis, flagged to CNN by a source familiar with Riyadh's planning, arrives before or after French assets are in place.