Egyptian Parliament Approves Military Support for Saudi Arabia if Houthis Attack

Parliament has given the go-ahead to “take necessary measures to support” Saudi Arabia, the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reports.

Last week, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made it clear that these were defensive measures, not Egyptian attacks in Yemen.

The Houthi movement has escalated its war against Saudi Arabia. The Iran-backed movement has also choked off traffic in the Red Sea by establishing control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, affecting Egypt’s important revenue from customs duties on traffic through the Suez Canal to the north.

In mid-September, el-Sisi received Saudi Arabia’s leader Mohammed bin Salman in Cairo. They pledged “forceful responses” to attacks and to keeping the Red Sea open to traffic.