The Iranian-backed Houthi militia saw the Egyptian parliament's approval of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take steps to support Saudi Arabia and defend its lands as a "declaration of war" against it, and warned Cairo not to be drawn into a military conflict that would exhaust its forces. This is according to the statements of a member of the so-called "supreme political council" of the group, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, published by the "Saba" agency, which is controlled by the group in Sana'a. Al-Houthi said in his statements that the announcement by Egypt and its parliament to support what he called "defending Saudi Arabia" represented a clear declaration of war against Yemen, describing the Egyptian move as a settlement with Saudi Arabia in what his group says is a blockade imposed on Yemen since its coup. He claimed that this position is drawing the Egyptian army into a new war of attrition, similar to its military intervention in Yemen during the 1960s, considering that engaging the Egyptian forces at this time provides a "service to Israel" in realizing its plans to attack Sinai and displace the Palestinians there, as he defined it. Al-Houthi called on the members of what he described as the "alliance to defend Makkah" to withdraw from it, and warned Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan against supporting Saudi military operations, and at the same time claimed that his group does not pose any threat to the navigation of the Strait of Ab al-Mandab or the Suez Canal to Oud.