🇪🇬 Egypt’s marginalized opposition rejects involvement in Saudi war in Yemen Egypt must not send its armed forces to fight Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, the 12-member Civic Democratic Movement said Monday. 🗣 “Egyptian national interests must be the primary determinant of any decision on this matter,” the coalition said, rejecting the prospect of “Egypt’s position being tied to directives from any external party.” 🗣 “We favor caution, and a diplomatic role for Egypt,” CDM coordinator Akram Ismail told Al Manassa. The deployment of Egyptian troops to Yemen threatens to drag the country “into a war nobody knows how will end,” he said. Egypt’s parliament delayed a vote to authorize the deployment of Egyptian troops to the Arabian Peninsula for a week. A closed, 90-minute debate took place Monday, with numerous lawmakers indicating they would object to or abstain from the critical vote. Egypt’s House of Representatives is overwhelmingly dominated by the pro-Sisi Nation’s Future party and its allies, commanding ~420 of 596 seats (~70.5%) – more than enough to secure the needed 2/3 threshold to approve the deployment of troops abroad. CDM holds just 28 seats, and is split into 12 parties, including socialist, liberal and Arab nationalist forces. If not opposition ire, observers suggest Sisi and his allies may be afraid of public backlash amid socio-economic strain at home, the ghost of Egypt’s failed 1960s intervention in the North Yemeni civil war (often dubbed ‘Egypt’s Vietnam’), and concerns over Egyptians’ reactions to Houthi messaging, including Yemen’s parliament speaker Yahya Ali al-Ra’i appeal Sunday urging the proud Egyptian nation not to “serve the interests of the Saudi regime.” 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime