Egypt's Sisi Seeks Parliament Backing for Military Aid to Saudi Arabia as Coalition Puts Riyadh Airport Toll at 17

Since the Oct. 10 Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, the fight has moved from a Saudi-Houthi exchange toward a regional one. Egypt's president is now asking for authority to send forces.

Sisi vowed Saturday, Oct. 17, to take "any measure" to defend Saudi Arabia. Egypt's parliament is set to hold an emergency session Sunday. Sisi wants approval for military assistance if Riyadh requests it, and he insists Egypt does not want war.

That condition is important. Saudi Arabia has not been reported to have asked for Egyptian troops.

The toll keeps climbing

At a Riyadh news conference Thursday, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said Houthi attacks on King Khalid airport between Oct. 7 and 11 killed 17 people and injured 333. He said the Oct. 10 attack alone involved 10 drones, missiles and other projectiles, and that the airport has been hit by 20 attacks since Oct. 1.

Earlier counts of the Oct. 10 strike ran from 12 to 13 dead and more than 300 wounded. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation puts the wider figure at 20 killed and 356 injured across Saudi airports from Oct. 6 to 11. The authority has said the dead from Oct. 10 included an American citizen.

The Houthis have not stopped. A projectile hit King Khalid again Oct. 11, killing one person, according to the aviation authority. Debris from two intercepted missiles fell on Riyadh homes Tuesday, injuring four people and damaging 15 houses. The same night, a limited fire broke out in an administrative building at Aramco's Dhahran headquarters. The Energy Ministry reported no injuries.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Wednesday that "operations toward Saudi depths will continue in the coming days." He called the targets "legitimate" and described the attacks as a response to Saudi strikes on Yemen.

Diplomatic fallout

The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday postponed a joint summit planned in Saudi Arabia for next week. The council cited "continued attempts by the terrorist Houthi militia to target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its civilian infrastructure." No new date has been announced.

The State Department now requires U.S. government employees to get special authorization from a chief of mission before using any Saudi airport. Saudi civil aviation authorities had suspended King Khalid operations through today, Oct. 17. Jeddah and Dammam airports are open, with delays and cancellations.

The coalition struck oil sites in Sanaa, Dhamar and Saada on Tuesday. Al-Maliki said they were facilities used to "supply the war effort" by the Houthis.

Washington's position

President Trump said Sunday the U.S. may join Saudi strikes on the Houthis: "We may. We're gonna look at it." In a Truth Social post Tuesday, he said the Houthis are acting "probably at the behest of Iran" and that he "will never forget" the attacks.

He also pointed back to last year's U.S. bombing campaign, which cost more than $1 billion and ended with the Houthis agreeing to stop attacking American ships in the Red Sea.

Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti has warned that U.S. involvement would bring a "swift and painful response" against American interests across the region.

Who is steering the Houthis?

A senior Saudi diplomat told reporters this week that Iran is encouraging the escalation and that the Houthis spurned an offer to negotiate over the summer. Iran denies arming the Houthis, which would violate a U.N. embargo.

Tim Lenderking, U.S. special envoy for Yemen from 2021 to 2025, argues the picture has changed. "The Houthis don't really need the Iranians anymore," he said, though he called the Iran relationship one that "enabled the Houthis to become the powerful force that they are." He says the group has built "homegrown indigenous capability."

The scale is large. A 2024 U.N. experts' report estimated the Houthis had recruited up to 350,000 fighters, up from 30,000 in 2015. A recent report found the group has tried to source Chinese-made parts used in precision-guided ballistic missiles with a range of roughly 1,200 miles. China says it takes a "prudent and responsible" approach to military exports and has not directly answered that report.

The economics favor the attacker. The Houthis can make much of their weaponry domestically and cheaply, while Saudi Arabia is spending state-of-the-art interceptors against it.

What Riyadh wants

Bernard Haykel of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies expects the Saudis to "ramp up against the Houthis" and lean more on Yemeni forces opposed to the group. Former U.S. Ambassador Michael Ratney says Riyadh's immediate priority is helping the Yemeni army retake coastal positions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Houthis claimed Perim Island in that strait in September. Saudi-backed forces retook key areas around it in early October.

Ratney called deliberate strikes on civilian airports "really a new escalation for the Houthis," who had previously focused on military and energy targets.

The next concrete test comes Sunday in Cairo. Parliament's vote will show how far Egypt is willing to go, and whether Riyadh takes up the offer.