Egypt will not hesitate to deploy ground troops into the territory of its Gulf state allies to protect them from threats if it is asked to do so by those countries’ leaders, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday. In his comments at a briefing with Kuwait journalists, the Egyptian leader “made it clear that Egypt will not hesitate to send forces to brotherly Gulf counties to defend them if they face any direct threat or aggression,” a statement released by the presidency reads. Once regarded the leader of the Arab world, Egypt has been struggling to recover its former role in the region following the turbulence that came with the 25 January uprising that ended the 30-year long reign of strongman Hosni Mubarak. The most populous Middle Eastern country and the recipient of billions of dollars of aid from the Gulf, Egypt has joined the Saudi-led and U.S.-backed military coalition fighting in Yemen to restore to power president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who lost control of the capital Sanaa in September 2014 to the Houthis, a revivalist Zaidi-Shia guerilla movement. Since the popular military ouster of Egypt’s first democratically…
Egypt ‘Won’t Hesitate’ to Send Troops to Gulf Allies if Asked, Says Sisi
February 18, 2016
