— #Macron announced on 24 September 2026 that #France and Saudi Arabia have finalized an agreement to deploy #French soldiers, radar equipment and air-defence systems around Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Macron explicitly described the mission as defensive: protecting the energy site rather than joining Saudi Arabia's conflict with the Houthis. Yanbu is strategically much more important than just a refinery complex. It is the western terminus of Saudi Arabia's East–West Pipeline