Egypt’s parliament to meet Sunday after El-Sisi seeks mandate to defend Saudi Arabia
Egypt’s House of Representatives will convene on Sunday after President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for an emergency session to authorize military action in defense of Saudi Arabia, should Riyadh ask for it, as the kingdom’s conflict with Yemen’s Houthis escalates.
The House scheduled the session within hours of El-Sisi’s request on Saturday, according to a breaking news alert on Al Qahera News.
Speaking at the graduation of the Egyptian Military Academy’s first class, El-Sisi pledged to do whatever it takes to protect the kingdom. “In accordance with the directives of King Salman [bin Abdulaziz] and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, we will carry out any measure to protect you and defend you,” he said, addressing the Saudi leadership.
“I know this requires the Egyptian parliament’s approval, and I hope it will meet in an emergency session to give us this mandate, if we are asked,” he added. Any action, he stressed, would be defensive, not an offensive or a war against another party.
El-Sisi gave no indication of what form that support might take, or whether it could involve deploying troops or air defense systems on Saudi soil.
Under Article 152 of the constitution, the president cannot declare war or send troops on a combat mission abroad without first consulting the National Defense Council and securing a two-thirds majority in the House.
The president’s remarks came four days after Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told Bloomberg on Tuesday that Egypt stood ready to offer Saudi Arabia every form of support, military included, if asked. Abdelatty said Cairo was seriously considering joining the “Mecca Pact,” a defense alliance of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, but did not announce any troop deployment or direct role in military operations.
The pact’s members signed a mutual defense agreement in August under which an armed attack on one is treated as an attack on all three. On Oct. 5, after an emergency meeting of its political-strategic committee in Riyadh, the alliance said it was moving to put those commitments into practice, including by rapidly deploying forces and military capabilities to Saudi Arabia. Egypt has not joined.
Cairo has been edging toward a defense role for weeks. On Sept. 17, Al Manassa reported, citing the Associated Press, that Saudi Arabia had asked Egypt, France, Britain and Pakistan for help countering Houthi missiles and drones, as it ran short of interceptors and Washington grew less willing to intervene directly. Reuters, citing regional sources, reported that the request followed the Houthis’ capture of strategic positions overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait and islands once under Riyadh’s sway, raising the stakes for both the kingdom and Egypt, whose Suez Canal revenues depend on Red Sea shipping.
The reports emerged a day after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Cairo on Sept. 15 for talks with El-Sisi on regional developments and Red Sea security. Neither side disclosed any new military arrangements. The following day, Maj. Gen. Osama Abdel Hamid Dawoud, commander of Egypt’s Border Guard Forces, confirmed ongoing coordination with Saudi Arabia to secure the Gulf of Aqaba and the southern Red Sea, including intelligence sharing and regular meetings, though he stopped short of announcing any Egyptian role in the war in Yemen.
The fighting has intensified sharply in recent days. Houthi missiles and drones have struck the Saudi capital and oil facilities, including an attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Oct. 10 that killed 13 people and injured more than 300. Saudi forces retaliated with airstrikes on Sanaa and other Yemeni provinces.
Before dawn on Wednesday, the Houthis targeted Riyadh again. Saudi authorities said the attack was intercepted, but falling debris injured four people and damaged homes. A fire also broke out at an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran.
El-Sisi framed his pledge as repayment of a debt, citing the aid Gulf states poured into Egypt after the events of 2013, which he said kept the state able to meet its basic needs.
“If our brothers in the Gulf hadn’t stood by Egypt in 2013… ships of oil, gas, cooking gas and wheat were coming without anyone counting the cost,” he said. “If no one had done that, I don’t know what the Egyptian state would have done. I’m telling you this so it never happens again, and so we acknowledge the favor. I will not be ashamed or embarrassed to thank our brothers in the Gulf: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.”