Egypt’s top security body has agreed to provide support to Saudi Arabia to help it defend itself against escalating attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, marking another front in the ongoing Iran war.
Saudi Arabia has been seeking military assistance from its allies as the Houthis continue to target airports and oil infrastructure across the kingdom with drones and missiles capable of changing direction mid-flight, making interception difficult.
The attacks have killed at least 19 people, disrupted thousands of flights and shaken global markets.
Also on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s defence minister met with the president of the United Arab Emirates to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation, according to the UAE’s state news agency WAM. Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years as they supported different factions within the Yemeni coalition fighting the Houthis.
Egypt’s announcement came a month after a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The National Defence Council, chaired by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, decided to provide “all possible forms of support” to help Saudi Arabia defend its security, according to a presidential statement.
The statement did not specify the nature of the assistance. On Saturday, el-Sissi called on parliament to authorise him to deploy troops and military equipment abroad.
Civilians killed in Yemen and Saudi Arabia
The escalation has threatened civilians in both countries, while Yemen has seen a return to civil war. Aden, the interim capital of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, has come under attack in recent days, with its airport and a government-used palace targeted.
On Sunday, an airstrike killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, in the Houthi-controlled northern province of Saada, according to the rebels’ Health Ministry.
Ministry spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi said the strike hit a house in Sahar district, wounding 19 others, including 11 children. Some of the injured were in critical condition.
Al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, but there was no immediate comment from the kingdom. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television broadcast footage showing people clearing debris by hand and pulling two young people from the rubble.
The Houthis said Saudi-led attacks had killed or wounded more than 30 people over the past 24 hours. Their military spokesperson, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, claimed that 110 missiles or airstrikes had targeted civilian sites in Sanaa and other cities. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Meanwhile, a Saudi helicopter gunship crashed near the southwestern city of Najran, killing its two crew members, a Saudi military spokesperson said, attributing the incident to a technical malfunction. The Houthis had earlier claimed responsibility for shooting it down.
Saudi Civil Defence authorities later said a projectile fired by the Houthis landed in a residential area of Najran province, injuring six people.
Both sides trade accusations as mediation efforts emerge
The Houthis have resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks over the kingdom’s support for Yemen’s internationally recognised government in the civil war. The rebels have also recently seized more territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz.
Houthi chief negotiator Mohamed Abdulsalam on Sunday blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation, saying the rebels had warned the kingdom against attacking Sanaa airport in mid-July.
The strike prevented an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing after the group returned from the funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war in February.
Angered by Saudi Arabia’s longstanding blockade, the Houthis subsequently announced their own blockade against the kingdom.
Abdulsalam said Oman had proposed a five-day truce during which the two sides would meet to resolve their differences. He said the Houthis had agreed to halt attacks if Saudi Arabia met their “humanitarian demands”, without elaborating.
He accused Riyadh of showing no “indication that it is ready to deal positively” with the demands, adding that the rebels launched their offensive along the Red Sea coast shortly afterwards.
A Saudi diplomat said last week that the kingdom had invited the Houthis to a meeting in Oman in July “to resolve outstanding differences and bring an end to this escalation”, but the rebels declined to participate.
On Sunday, Al-Azhar, Egypt’s leading Sunni Muslim religious institution, called for the formation of an “urgent mediation committee” to help end conflicts across the Arab region.