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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt’s military support for Saudi Arabia would be limited to defending the kingdom’s territory and borders and would not include an attack on Yemen, the presidency said on Wednesday, as the Iran-allied Houthis intensify attacks on the kingdom.
Sisi’s comments came as Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi state news agency SPA said. Abdelatty delivered a written message from Sisi to King Salman, and the two sides discussed bilateral ties and regional developments, SPA said.
The letter concerned strengthening bilateral ties and affirmed Egypt’s full solidarity with and support for Saudi Arabia, Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Any Egyptian military backing for Saudi Arabia could mark a significant escalation in the broader Middle East conflict, which has threatened global energy supplies and pushed oil prices higher since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Egypt would also defend the territory of any other Arab country if asked, Sisi said, but its military effort would not extend beyond Egyptian territory or that of an Arab state whose security and stability Cairo was seeking to protect.
On Monday, Egypt’s parliament delayed until October 26 a vote on authorizing the armed forces to support Saudi Arabia if requested, lawmakers said.
Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north, has escalated in recent weeks, opening another front in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are close strategic and economic partners. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, provided Egypt with billions of dollars in aid, central bank deposits and investments after the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Sisi became president a year later.
Egypt, a regional military power, previously joined the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of the government against the Houthis, though it played a limited combat role in the civil war.
Riad, 22 oct (Prensa Latina) Dos personas murieron hoy y otras dos resultaron heridas por la caída de restos de un dron interceptado por las defensas aéreas saudíes cuando se dirigía hacia una instalación del campo petrolífero de Shaybah, operado por Saudi Aramco.
The post Dos muertos por caída de restos de dron interceptado en Arabia Saudí first appeared on Noticias Prensa Latina.
Adén, 22 oct (Prensa Latina) El ejército yemení denunció hoy que el movimiento hutí atacó por cuarta vez en pocas horas el Aeropuerto Internacional de Al-Rayyan, situado en Mukalla, capital de la gobernación de Hadramaut, en el este del país.
The post Ejército yemení denuncia cuarto ataque hutí a aeropuerto de Rayyan first appeared on Noticias Prensa Latina.
Washington, 21 oct (Prensa Latina) El Departamento de Estado ordenó hoy la salida de Arabia Saudita de los empleados del gobierno estadounidense cuyas funciones no se consideran esenciales y de sus familiares ante un incremento de tensiones con los hutíes, en Yemen.
The post EEUU ordena salida de personal de Arabia Saudita first appeared on Noticias Prensa Latina.
Reports emerge of similar withdrawals in UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain amid concerns about a return to conflict with Iran after US midterm elections
The US state department has ordered some diplomats and the families of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, as the gulf kingdom faces a barrage of near-daily attacks, with at least three people killed at an airport and oilfield on Wednesday evening.
Attacks on “civilian airports and other critical infrastructure” by the Iranian-supported Houthis in Yemen were highlighted as the reason for the drawdown. State department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said: “The safety and security of department personnel and their families remain our highest priority.”
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© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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