Egypt's parliament authorises military aid for Saudi Arabia
President el-Sisi may support the kingdom against Houthi attacks if Riyadh asks. U.N. Secretary-General Guterres urged maximum restraint.
Photo: Abdelrhman 1990 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Egypt's House of Representatives on Monday authorised President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to provide military support to Saudi Arabia. A parliamentary statement said he may take "necessary" measures to help defend the kingdom, but only if Riyadh requests assistance. The vote had previously been postponed once.
El-Sisi has said any Egyptian military action would be limited to protecting Saudi territory and borders, not attacking Yemen. Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Riyadh's airport and Aramco facilities have disrupted flights and oil exports, while disruption to shipping near the Bab al-Mandeb strait has cut Egypt's Suez Canal revenue.
Egypt has not carried out a large-scale foreign ground deployment since the 1991 Gulf War. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met el-Sisi in Cairo on Monday and urged "maximum restraint," warning that further fighting could spiral out of control.