France to send military to protect Saudi Arabia on Red Sea oil route

France will send troops and defence systems to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port city of Yanbu. Yanbu serves as Saudi Arabia's primary crude export terminal on the Red Sea and is connected to its oil-producing regions by the East-West pipeline, also known as Petroline.

The move comes amid ongoing attacks by Yemen's Houthi group on Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have launched strikes on the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and repeatedly fired into Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil flows from the world's largest energy exporter.

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh Al Fawzan has urged Coalition forces and Saudi soldiers to remain united in repelling Houthi attacks, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). France's President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement in a TV interview, and denied a report that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had warned European governments of possible Russian drone attacks from the Mediterranean, according to RFI English.

Brief written by urgent.news from RFI English, Euronews, Gulf News, Ajel English, Jerusalem Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.