Egypt’s parliament is weighing whether to authorize military support for Saudi Arabia, as Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, better known as the Houthis, keeps up deadly attacks on the Kingdom.
At a meeting on Oct. 18, Egypt’s highest security body pledged “all necessary and possible forms of support” to help Saudi Arabia defend “its security and stability, safeguard its resources and territorial integrity, and protect Islamic holy sites.” The National Defense Council, chaired by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, also said Cairo would step up its diplomatic efforts to find a settlement to the conflict.
Addressing Saudi Arabia at a graduation ceremony at the Egyptian Military Academy on Oct. 17, Sisi said Egypt “will carry out any measure to protect you or defend you.” He added, “I am not talking about fighting anyone or attacking anyone. We are speaking only about defense.” He asked the parliament to hold an emergency session to grant the authorization, which the constitution requires for any combat mission abroad.
The move came as the Houthis have stepped up their strikes on Saudi airports and oil facilities.
Lawmakers weigh the risks
Parliamentarians debated Sisi’s request on Oct. 18–19 without putting it to a vote, before Speaker Hisham Badawi moved the roll-call vote to Oct. 26. Deploying troops abroad requires a two-thirds majority of the legislature’s 596 seats, or at least 398 votes. Lawmakers are set to reconvene to debate the matter on Oct. 26.
The government has not detailed the support, including the scale and scope of any deployment of troops and equipment, and lawmakers have questioned what the proposed assistance would involve.
The opposition Egyptian Social Democratic Party announced that its 11-member parliamentary bloc would abstain, citing insufficient information about the mission’s objectives, scope, duration and costs, as well as the risks to Egyptian troops. The party also called for prioritizing diplomacy and strengthening institutional Arab defense cooperation to avoid open-ended military commitments.
Mostafa Bakry, a prominent lawmaker close to the government, told Amwaj.media that the mission of any forces deployed “would be to protect Saudi installations within the Kingdom’s territory, not beyond it.” He added, “This is the substance of the decision the Parliament was discussing.”
Regional reactions and diplomatic efforts
Yemen’s internationally-recognized government has praised Egypt’s “courageous” support for Saudi Arabia, while Riyadh has yet to comment officially on the National Defense Council’s decision.
Saudi commentator Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, widely viewed as close to the royal court, argued in the Saudi-owned daily Asharq Al-Awsat that “Cairo is acting in defense of its interests, influence and economy.” Egypt’s involvement, Rashed wrote, sent a message to Iran and the wider Arab world that Egypt could no longer remain silent in the face of what he described as Iran’s war against Gulf Arab states. Whether it alters the military balance, he added, will depend on the nature and scale of Egypt’s involvement.
The Houthis have publicly opposed the decision. Yahya Al-Ra’i, speaker of the Houthi-controlled parliament, urged Cairo to refrain from military involvement and instead support a political settlement in Yemen.
Cairo has meanwhile pressed on with diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict. These gained momentum when the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, called for an Arab-Islamic mediation committee to help settle the region’s conflicts. Al-Azhar is the Islamic world’s highest Sunni religious institution.
In parallel, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for an end to attacks on Saudi Arabia in talks with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. According to Bakry, the lawmaker close to the government, Egypt’s diplomacy has focused on ending attacks on Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, securing freedom of navigation and maritime routes, and opening the way to a negotiated settlement.
What could Egypt’s military role involve?
Ayman Zaineldine, a former Egyptian diplomat and member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, said the public debate over Egypt’s role is only part of a wider process. “The whole issue of Egypt supporting Saudi Arabia is like the metaphorical iceberg, where four-fifths of the iceberg is underwater,” he told Amwaj.media.
“What we see publicly is only the tip of the iceberg,” Zaineldine said. The real message behind the parliamentary delay, he argued, depends on “what is happening behind the scenes,” from Egypt-Saudi consultations and parliamentary discussions to the military’s assessment of what the mission requires.
Retired Maj. Gen. Samir Farag, a commentator with close ties to the defense establishment, has outlined five possible forms of Egyptian assistance. They range from sharing intelligence, sending military experts and supplying ammunition to providing weapons such as aircraft and, as a last resort, deploying troops.
Farag said in televised comments that, if the parliament approves the proposal, an Egyptian military committee could meet Saudi commanders to identify key locations requiring protection, such as holy sites, oil facilities, airports and ports. Oil facilities are protected by low-, medium- and high-altitude air defenses, he noted, and Egypt could provide medium-altitude systems, depending on its available capabilities.
Samir Ragheb, a retired Egyptian military officer who heads the Arab Foundation for Development and Strategic Studies, questioned whether the Kingdom seeks Egyptian ground forces at all. “Saudi Arabia is not fighting in Yemen with ground forces, so it would make little sense for it to ask Egypt to send troops,” he said. “Neither Egypt would accept such a move nor would Saudi Arabia request it.”
With the debate growing among Egyptians who are largely weary of any foreign military adventure in Yemen, Sisi sought to reassure them that the mission is limited to defense. “Egypt’s military effort is intended to defend Saudi Arabia’s territory and does not include attacks on Yemen,” he said at the Egypt Forum 2026 on Oct. 21, adding that the aim was to defend the Kingdom’s “territory and borders.”
Sisi also reaffirmed the principles that have guided Egyptian foreign policy since 2014. These include non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs, preserving the unity of the nation-state and its institutions, refusing to deal with armed groups and maintaining balanced relations with all parties.
Since the launch of the Israeli-US war on Iran in late February, Egypt has balanced its support for Gulf Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with diplomatic efforts to contain the regional conflict. The assistance has included the deployment of military assets to help counter Iranian attacks.
The spillover has also raised concerns at home. On July 29, a drone reportedly set two gas vessels ablaze at Damietta port, one of Egypt’s key gateways for energy shipments and international trade. Since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have increasingly relied on Egyptian infrastructure to help sustain crude exports.
Relying on diplomacy
Diplomatic coordination between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has continued alongside the parliamentary debate in Cairo. On Oct. 21, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) received Foreign Minister Abdelatty and Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Authority, in Riyadh, where they delivered a written message from Sisi to the Saudi monarch.
According to Bakry, the visit reaffirmed Egypt’s position and entailed briefing MbS on the diplomatic efforts of the Egyptian government and of Al-Azhar.
Zaineldine, the former Egyptian diplomat, warned that relying solely on military means would only make the situation worse, adding that Cairo prefers a peaceful, negotiated resolution through the channels it has with Tehran and the Houthis. “Egypt must therefore be doubling its efforts to find a resolution,” he concluded to Amwaj.media.