President Macron announces deployment of military personnel to Saudi Arabia — Cyprus Mail

France will send military personnel, radars and defence systems to Saudi Arabia to protect the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, which is important for energy transportation. French President Emmanuel Macron said this in an interview with TF1 and France 2, Cyprus Mail reports, citing Reuters.

Protection of Yanbu port

According to Macron, French resources are intended to protect the facility, rather than involve France in conflicts. He specified that this concerns military personnel, radar and defence systems.

Crude oil prices have recently risen amid missile attacks on the route used to export Saudi oil through Yanbu. The report notes that the attacks are carried out by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.

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Macron also said that France has sufficient gas and oil reserves ahead of winter, and that Paris is working to ensure supplies are not disrupted. He called a possible US ban on diesel fuel exports catastrophic for the world and the US economy. The White House denied that it was considering such a decision.

Statements about threats from Russia

In the interview, the French president also dismissed a report by Spanish newspaper El Mundo about an alleged CIA warning to European governments regarding the risk of drone attacks from the Mediterranean. According to him, the CIA did not inform French services.

At the same time, Macron said that the Russian Federation, an aggressor state, is intensifying hostile and criminal actions against European countries. He suggested that France could face attacks similar to the failed attempt to strike Leipzig Airport with drones in August, for which Germany blamed Russia. Moscow calls Europe's accusations of hybrid attacks unfounded.