The German government is maintaining a reserved stance regarding a potential military engagement in Saudi Arabia, following a recent announcement made by France. On Friday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the dts news agency that Germany is “naturally” keeping track of the overall situation across the Middle East, while adding that they had “no current updates to provide.”
The spokesperson further clarified that any possible deployment of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) into a region where “the application of force is likely” would first require approval from the Bundestag, due to parliamentary reservations.
The context of this discussion stems from President Emmanuel Macron’s recent announcement to send soldiers and defense systems to Saudi Arabia. The stated aim of this deployment is to protect the oil infrastructure located in the port city of Yanbu on the Red Sea. Yanbu is the endpoint of a crucial East-West oil pipeline that transports crude oil from the Persian Gulf and has recently been subjected to recurrent attacks by the Houthis. When questioned by dts about whether Germany had been informed beforehand about Paris’s decision, the spokesperson declined to elaborate.
