Egypt's parliament authorised the country's military on Monday to provide support to help defend Saudi Arabia, parliamentarians said and local media reported, a move that could push Cairo directly into the regional conflict that has expanded with intensified attacks by Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis on the Gulf kingdom, Reuters reported from Cairo on October 26.
Source: Reuters, Oct 26
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had asked parliament last week to approve defending its Gulf Arab ally and the world's biggest oil exporter if Riyadh requests help against the Houthis, whose advances also threaten the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a gateway to Egypt's Suez Canal, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Oct 26
Not in the Mecca pact — but considering it
Egypt has frequently condemned Iranian and Iranian-backed attacks on Gulf countries but has not publicly engaged in direct combat or joined the Mecca mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey that was signed in August, Reuters reported. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said this month that Egyptian membership in the pact remains 'under serious consideration'. Saudi Arabia is a major political and financial partner of Cairo, providing billions of dollars in aid, deposits at the central bank and energy supplies under Sisi, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Oct 26
Awaaz Punjab reported last week that Egypt was pushing Yemen talks as the parliamentary vote on military support for Saudi Arabia neared, after Abdelatty and Egypt's intelligence chief delivered a letter from Sisi to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. Read the earlier Egypt–Saudi report
The fighting that prompted the vote
Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Houthi militia, which controls the capital Sanaa, has escalated in recent weeks, becoming a volatile front in the US-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters reported. The Houthis said on Saturday they had targeted the East-West pipeline, crude oil pumping stations, an Aramco facility in Yanbu and the Rabigh refinery; there was no Saudi confirmation of those claims, Reuters reported. The Saudi-led coalition said on Monday it had carried out a military operation against Houthi targets in Yemen, destroying five tunnels used to store ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and a missile storage facility, according to coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Oct 25-26
What is solid
- Egypt's parliament authorised military support to help defend Saudi Arabia on Monday, October 26 (Reuters, citing parliamentarians and local media)
- President Sisi asked parliament last week to approve the support if Riyadh requests it (Reuters)
What is only claimed
- The Houthis' claim to have attacked the East-West pipeline pumping stations, a Yanbu Aramco facility and the Rabigh refinery on Saturday — Saudi Arabia has not confirmed those claims (Reuters)
- The coalition's account of its Monday operation destroying five missile tunnels, four launchers and a storage facility in Yemen (coalition spokesperson, via Reuters)
Egypt, the Arab world's most populous state with one of the region's largest militaries, joined the Saudi-led coalition in an earlier phase of Yemen's war in March 2015 mainly as a naval partner, sending warships to secure Red Sea shipping lanes while pledging air support, and deployed around 800 ground troops in only a limited combat role, Reuters reported. Egypt was involved in a costly military intervention in Yemen in the 1960s and has not undertaken a large-scale foreign ground deployment since the 1991 Gulf War, Reuters noted.
Source: Reuters, Oct 26