When Nasser Sent Egypt’s Army to Yemen Against Saudi-Backed Forces

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s declaration that his country was ready to intervene militarily to defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis recalls an earlier Egyptian campaign in Yemen—one fought on the opposite side of Riyadh.

During the 1960s, President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent Egyptian troops to Yemen, where they fought royalist forces backed by Saudi Arabia. The conflict placed Cairo and Riyadh on opposing sides of a struggle over Yemen’s future.

The contrast with Sisi’s stated position is striking. Where Egyptian soldiers once confronted Saudi-supported fighters, the prospect of intervention now rests on defending the kingdom against a threat from Yemen.

The two episodes belong to different political circumstances, and the royalists of the 1960s should not be conflated with today’s Houthis. Yet the earlier campaign remains a historical reference point for considering any renewed Egyptian military role in Yemen—and how profoundly Cairo’s relationship with Riyadh has changed.