Egypt’s parliament authorised on Monday sending military support to Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom from attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, following a request from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The House of Representatives voted with a two-thirds majority in favour of “authorising President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take the necessary measures to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, according to a parliament statement.
The parliament, stacked with supporters of Sisi, had held three rare secret meetings on the matter and postponed the vote twice.
Sisi last week had asked parliament to authorise military support to Saudi Arabia, “if requested”.
It was not immediately clear what defensive support could be provided by Egypt, which has the Arab world’s largest military, boasting hundreds of thousands of active personnel, fighter jets and complex air defences sourced from countries including the United States, China, France and Russia.
MP Medhat Rekaby al-Mansourawy told AFP discussions of the potential operation were “surface-level without details”, and lawmakers had received assurances it would be “defensive” in nature.
The Social Democratic Party, which holds 11 seats in parliament, abstained from the vote after requesting “specific objectives, clear information” on the mission’s scope and duration, and “an accurate assessment of the potential risks to the lives of our soldiers”.
Sisi said on Wednesday that his country’s support would be to “defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen”.
“We are talking about defending the land and borders of the kingdom,” he said in a speech, adding that the top priority was for a diplomatic solution.
Egypt has undertaken a flurry of diplomatic moves since Sisi’s initial request. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty consulted last week with the so-called R4, which includes members of the Meccah defence pact, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, which Cairo has not agreed to join.
On Monday, he said he was “talking daily with the Iranians” to push for regional de-escalation.
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