Why Did Sisi Join the War on Yemen?

KABUL: (Middle East Press) One may wonder why Egypt would join the Saudi attack on Yemen while it already has its own problems to solve such as poor economy and terrorism. Well as they say, “Money talks”. Nowadays money may be the most influential reason for bringing a country to join a war.

Egypt has already decided to join Saudi Arabia’s invasion of Yemen. Egyptian security and military officials say Saudi Arabia and Egypt will lead a ground operation in Yemen after a campaign of airstrikes to weaken Yemeni Ansarullah movement. But Cairo’s decision will have disastrous consequences for the country’s army.

Egyptian intervention in Yemen is a replay of events of the 60s when Egyptian President Abdel Nasser sent over 70,000 troops during the Yemeni civil war between the North and the South and lost 40% of troops before withdrawing.

Many back then felt that the decision was meant as a distraction from Egypt’s internal problems and at the time conflict with Israeli regime.

The Egyptian involvement comes after months of closeness between Egypt and Persian Gulf States in which these states supported the current Egyptian government against the Muslim Brotherhood and granted Egypt billions in support of its ailing economy.

Egypt has received billions of dollars from Persian Gulf States. The money is aimed at giving Cairo much needed help to revive its shattered economy. Many believe Cairo’s decision to support and participate in Saudi Arabia’s invasion of Yemen is a way of paying back the financial help of Persian Gulf States.

They have supported the current Egyptian leadership since it ousted the Muslim Brotherhood-led government in 2013. Hence we can say, Sisi’s government has been bought by Arab States’ petrodollars, Saudi Arabia’s in particular.

Indeed, the PGCC states have provided Egypt with continuous support — both financially and in the form of petroleum products — since the army-led overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood on July 3, 2013. The PGCC’s most recent aid and investment package is estimated at around $12 billion, which the Persian Gulf states pledged to Cairo during the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh earlier this month.

Egypt says securing access to the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen’s coast is top priority, nine days after Cairo joined the Saudi-led military aggression against Yemen.

“Securing navigation in the Red Sea and protecting Bab al-Mandab Strait is a top priority for Egypt’s national security,” said Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a statement.

In a speech broadcast on state television later, the former Egyptian military chief claimed that securing the strategic waterway was also a matter of “Arab national security”.

The oil-rich Arab states have pledged at least $50 billion in aid and investments to Egypt since the 2013 ouster of the nation’s first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi.

Although Egyptian elite group are devoted to the idea that Egypt must have a central role in the Arab world, but they disagree with the participation of Egypt in the ground attack on Yemen.

Egyptian political government and its affiliated media, announced that the issue of the security of Bab el-Mandab is the main objective of the participation of Egypt in the war, while Ansarullah previously assured the people of Egypt that no harm will reach the Egyptian people.

But with the extreme media in Egypt supported by Arab regimes, almost 70 percent of the Egyptian people have been brainwashed to accept the participation of Egypt in the ground attack on Yemen.

Al- Sisi’s Egypt is so far subsisting on Saudi and Arab largesse — while the US and Israeli regime engineered the financial collapse of the Egyptian state following Morsi’s election, which agitated the population. Al-Sisi has inherited a destroyed infrastructure, and a demoralized population, from which most of the skilled middle class has already fled. Part of the reason for Sisi’s call for joint military force is that he hopes it will bind Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Arabian states much more tightly to Egypt, and make them more reliable as bankrollers and funders.

A Turkish TV channel leaked a recording of Sisi and his aides deriding his benefactors, stating that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE have more money than they need and that Egypt deserves a share. Arab rulers accuse Sisi of taking aid for granted, while the Egyptian general accuses them of “supporting terrorism,” which is code for their sympathy for and historical relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. Relations immediately frosted over. Sisi’s confidence and his disregard of political relationship-building stems from the strong backing given to him by the US and Israeli regime — he has been open about treating the Persian Gulf Arabians as instruments for his power designs in Egypt and the region at large.

On the other hand Ansarullah leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, warned Egypt from entering the war and told Sisi not to sell his army soldiers’ lives for some money given by Saudi Arabia and its allies. Analysts say Egypt has been bought by these petrodollars and things will not change since the economy of Egypt has been previously devastated in order to bring it on its knees. Sisi, now as a soldier at the American and Israeli regime service will do anything to stay at his place and gain more of the extra money that his Arab allies have.