France confirmed on September 25, 2026, that it will deploy France Yanbu troops—along with radars and defense systems—to protect Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea oil terminal after a surge of Houthi missile and drone attacks, President Emmanuel Macron told French broadcasters.
Macron said the mission is “not to involve ourselves in any conflict, but to protect the site.” Yanbu hosts major storage and refining capacity and links to the East-West Pipeline, which can move up to seven million barrels a day—critical as Hormuz traffic remains constrained by the US–Iran war.
France Yanbu troops after Houthi barrages
Saudi forces said they intercepted six ballistic missiles on Thursday after regional warnings that included Mecca. The Houthis claimed strikes on Aramco facilities in Yanbu and a “sensitive target” in Riyadh; Riyadh has not confirmed damage.
The attacks extend a campaign that shattered a years-long truce earlier this year and pulled Yemen deeper into the wider Middle East war. Earlier this month, Houthis seized Mocha and Red Sea islands, tightening leverage over Bab al-Mandab, which typically carries about 12 percent of global oil trade.
Mecca defense pact talks with Pakistan and Türkiye
Saudi, Pakistani, and Turkish foreign ministers met Thursday to arrange an urgent chiefs-of-staff meeting under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which treats an attack on one as an attack on all. Officials condemned strikes they said targeted Mecca and other civilian sites, though the pact has not been formally triggered.
Doubt remains over what military steps Ankara and Islamabad would take while both still mediate across Middle East files. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said Riyadh continues to work with US partners even as Washington has not renewed direct military involvement against the Houthis.
Oil prices and the Red Sea squeeze
Brent crude jumped more than 3 percent Thursday, briefly topping $108 a barrel, before easing near $106 Friday morning. Strikes and pipeline disruption have forced Saudi exporters to shift some volumes back toward Hormuz routes they had hoped to bypass.
Yemen’s Vice President Abdullah Abdulkader al-Alimi-Bawzer told the UN that Houthi control of shipping security had become “a tool for blackmail” holding the global economy hostage. The France Yanbu troops deployment is Europe’s clearest signal yet that Red Sea energy infrastructure is now a shared allied priority.
