Macron says French military support for Saudi oil sites includes "Soldiers, radars, defence systems"

France has begun carrying out parts of an agreement to help guard Saudi oil sites, the foreign ministry said Thursday, declining to detail what it is sending, Reuters reported. It follows President Emmanuel Macron’s September 24 announcement that French military support would go to Saudi Arabia to protect the Yanbu terminal, a key crude export point on the East-West pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. In a televised Élysée interview cited by Le Monde, Macron said France would deploy military assets. This comes amid drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, reported as coming mainly from Iran and Yemen, and rising oil prices that have increased French living costs. Le Monde says the scale is unclear and the move departs from Paris’s cautious defense cooperation with Riyadh. France announced in March it would send air-defense systems to the UAE.