Egypt approves military support for Saudi Arabia after Houthi attacks escalate

• Egypt’s parliament has authorized the military to support Saudi Arabia’s defense amid escalating Houthi attacks.
• President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has limited the proposed support to defending Saudi territory and borders, while Cairo continues to call for a diplomatic solution.

Egypt’s parliament authorized the country’s military on Monday to provide support for Saudi Arabia’s defense, according to lawmakers and local media, potentially drawing Cairo more directly into the regional conflict amid escalating attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked parliament last week to approve military assistance to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, if Riyadh requests help defending itself against the Houthis. The group’s advances also threaten the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital shipping route connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and a key gateway to Egypt’s Suez Canal.

Egypt has repeatedly condemned Iranian and Iran-backed attacks on Gulf countries but has not publicly confirmed direct combat involvement in the current conflict.

Following a visit to Riyadh last Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo’s support would be limited to defending Saudi territory and borders rather than launching attacks inside Yemen.

Abdelatty and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad traveled to the Saudi capital to deliver a letter from Sisi to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Abdelatty also said Egypt supports exploring every opportunity to resolve the Yemen conflict through diplomacy.

Cairo has not joined the mutual defense pact signed in August by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey. Abdelatty said earlier this month that Egyptian membership in the agreement remained “under serious consideration.”

The escalation between the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi movement, which controls the capital, Sanaa, has intensified in recent weeks.

The fighting has become another volatile front in the US-Israeli war on Iran. Houthi attacks have targeted Riyadh’s international airport and Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s state-owned oil company, disrupting air travel and oil exports.

The escalation has also heightened concerns over maritime security in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which a significant volume of global trade passes.

Aid agencies have warned of worsening conditions in Yemen, which is already facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, maintains close political and financial ties with Saudi Arabia, which has provided Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, central bank deposits and energy supplies under Sisi’s government.

Egypt previously joined the Saudi-led coalition during an earlier phase of Yemen’s war in March 2015, primarily contributing naval forces to secure Red Sea shipping lanes while also pledging air support. It deployed approximately 800 ground troops but played a limited combat role.

Cairo has been cautious about large-scale overseas military deployments, following a costly intervention in Yemen during the 1960s. Egypt has not undertaken a comparable large-scale foreign ground deployment since the 1991 Gulf War.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Sisi in Cairo on September 15 to discuss regional security and navigation in the Red Sea following the renewed fighting in Yemen.

The latest parliamentary authorization comes as Egypt faces growing pressure to help protect its Gulf ally while seeking to prevent further escalation and preserve the security of vital regional shipping routes.