Oct 18 (Reuters) – Egypt is ready to provide Saudi Arabia with the support it needs to defend its security and stability, the presidency said on Sunday, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis intensify their attacks on the world’s largest oil exporter.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi requested an urgent parliament session to authorise the military, one of the Arab world’s largest, to help defend Saudi Arabia if the kingdom requested its support.
A parliamentary vote had been expected on authorizing the request for military support on Sunday, but discussions were due to continue on Monday, two lawmakers and local media reports said.
HOUTHIS RAMP UP ATTACKS ON SAUDI ARABIA
The Houthis have in recent days attacked Riyadh’s international airport and the state oil giant Saudi Aramco, amid renewed fighting with the Saudi-backed forces of the internationally recognised government following the collapse of a truce.
“Egypt will provide Saudi Arabia with all necessary and possible forms of support to defend its security and stability, protect its resources, territorial integrity and Islamic holy sites,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
It followed a meeting of Egypt’s National Defence Council chaired by Sisi and attended by the parliamentary speaker, the prime minister and the army chief.
Sisi said in a speech on Saturday that Egypt would act in accordance with guidance from Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who visited Sisi on September 15, after fighting in Yemen reignited.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are close strategic and economic partners. Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Gulf states provided Egypt with billions of dollars in aid, central-bank deposits and investments after the military ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Egypt had previously joined the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government against the Houthis, but played a limited combat role.
(Reporting by Momen Atallah and Mohamed Hendawy; Writing by Eman Abouhassira and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Joe Bavier and Helen Popper)
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