Vote on authorising Sisi to defend Saudi Arabia delayed a week amid debate over participation

Key Facts

A vote on authorising Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take measures to defend Saudi Arabia was postponed for a week, The National reported on Monday afternoon, citing a parliamentary source, as discussions continued over Egyptian participation. Sisi requested the authorisation on Saturday, making defensive assistance contingent on a Saudi request amid fighting with the Houthis and attacks on the kingdom. The Egyptian president said he would call an emergency parliamentary session to obtain authorisation if necessary, according to the Associated Press's account of his remarks. Sisi described the proposed action as defensive, ruling out any suggestion that his remarks were a call to attack or start a war. In his speech on Saturday, he said, according to The National: "I am not talking about attacking or waging a war. We seek only to defend."

Egypt's National Defence Council, chaired by Sisi, met on Sunday morning following the president's request for authorisation and announced support for Saudi Arabia to protect its security and stability. Separately from the council's announcement, The National quoted lawmaker Mostafa Bakry as saying the council had approved sending troops on a defensive mission. Sending Egyptian troops on a combat mission abroad requires approval from two-thirds of members of the House of Representatives, according to the newspaper, the condition governing parliamentary authorisation. But lawmakers' approval of the request does not in itself mean troops will be deployed, as authorisation and implementation remain separate steps, The National explained in its account of the proposed procedures. Egyptian military action is therefore contingent on a Saudi request for assistance and the necessary parliamentary approval, with deployment remaining separate from permission to proceed.

The Egyptian discussions come against the backdrop of a wave of fighting that The National said began in July, when the Houthis announced a naval blockade of Saudi ports. Developments accompanying the outbreak included the Houthis taking control of additional territory inside Yemen, according to the newspaper's account of the fighting. Attacks extended to Saudi airports, according to remarks by coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki carried in The National's report published on Sunday. Maliki said the airport attacks killed 19 people, according to the casualty toll the newspaper attributed to him. He added that 364 people were wounded, with the attacks on Saudi facilities providing the security backdrop to Cairo's discussions about offering defensive assistance to the kingdom.

Egypt's pledge followed a Saudi request for defensive support from other countries, according to a report published by the Associated Press in September. The agency cited regional officials as saying Riyadh had asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defence support in the region. The two officials spoke to the agency on condition of anonymity when describing Saudi contacts over the requested military assistance. Air defence was the area of support the officials identified in discussing the Saudi request to those countries. Sisi's proposal for parliamentary authorisation came after that request, with his insistence that Egyptian assistance was contingent on a request from the kingdom and that the proposed action was intended to defend it.

Among Egyptian political parties, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party asked its lawmakers to abstain from voting on the authorisation, according to The National's report published on Monday. The party affirmed its solidarity with Saudi Arabia while calling for clarification of the objectives of the Egyptian military participation under discussion in parliament. The party stressed the need to avoid an open-ended commitment, linking its voting position to clarity over the purpose of the proposed participation. On the diplomatic front, Al-Azhar called on Sunday for the formation of an "urgent mediation committee" to end conflicts in the Arab region, according to the Associated Press. The call sought mediation among parties to Arab conflicts, alongside the Egyptian debate over providing defensive support to Saudi Arabia and securing the necessary authorisation.

Egypt's parliament had been scheduled to continue deliberations on Monday, according to the Middle East News Agency, cited by the Associated Press in its report published through Fortune. The National then reported in a later update that the vote had been postponed again that afternoon, citing a parliamentary source. The source said the postponement would last a full week, after the announced plan had been to continue deliberations on Monday over the authorisation request. But the source added that a decision could be issued before that period expired, leaving open the possibility of a ruling on the request during the delay. According to the update, the next consideration of the authorisation falls in the week after Monday, with a decision possible before the deadline announced by the parliamentary source.