The meeting follows days of Houthi attacks on the kingdom. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarie said the group launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at what he called a sensitive target in Riyadh and an Aramco facility in Yanbu, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired toward Taif and Yanbu. Saudi Arabia is rebuilding crude flows through the East-West pipeline, shut by drone attacks on Sept. 11, but tanker loading at Yanbu has yet to resume. Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company can typically overcome operational disruptions in days, pointing to the 2019 attacks when full operations were restored within 11 days, and is studying a fourth and fifth export route. Brent crude settled at $106.60 a barrel on Thursday, up 3.41%, and traded at $105.75 on Friday.
France will deploy soldiers, radars and air defense systems to protect the Yanbu oil terminal, which was exporting more than 5 million barrels a day before the strike. With the Strait of Hormuz largely shut, Yanbu is one of Saudi Arabia's main remaining routes for exporting crude. "We are going to send military assets: soldiers, radar systems and defense systems," Macron said, stressing France was "not getting involved in any conflict." Macron said the site was very badly damaged and did not rule out an additional French Air Force fighter deployment. The UK has separately committed an RAF Voyager tanker aircraft to Saudi Arabia.