Egypt's parliament has voted to authorise President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to provide military support to Saudi Arabia against attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The vote was held in a closed session on Monday 26 October.

The government has given no public details of what the support will involve. According to an unnamed regional official cited in coverage, Egypt will deploy air defence systems and aircraft to help repel missiles and drones fired at Saudi Arabia. The official said the support is defensive and will not include ground troops in Yemen.

What the vote does and what Sisi said

Parliament framed the vote as letting Sisi take the necessary measures to back Saudi Arabia in defending its territory and sovereignty against external "aggression". The chamber is dominated by pro-government lawmakers and no breakdown of the vote was given. It was first scheduled for the previous week but was postponed after two days of deliberations amid public wariness about involvement in Yemen's conflict.

Egypt's National Defence Council, chaired by Sisi, earlier pledged "all necessary and possible forms of support" to Saudi Arabia. Sisi said Egypt "will carry out any measure to protect Saudi Arabia", that he was "speaking only for defense", and that Egypt has no plans to attack Yemen.

Opposition, history and why it matters

The 11-member bloc of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party abstained, citing too little information on the objectives, scope, duration, costs and risks to troops. It called for diplomacy to be prioritised.

Saudi Arabia is one of Egypt's main financial backers, and remittances from Egyptians working there are a major source of foreign currency. Egypt sent tens of thousands of troops to Yemen's civil war in the 1960s under President Gamal Abdel Nasser; Egyptian state media has described that intervention as a low point of his presidency and a major cause of the 1967 defeat by Israel. In 2015 Egypt sent naval vessels to the Red Sea to support the Saudi-led coalition, without ground troops.

A business briefing published on Tuesday noted that the Houthis threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is critical to Suez Canal revenue.

 Egypt's parliament has approved sending troops to support Saudi Arabia's defence against Houthi attacks