CAIRO (Dispatches) -- Egypt has quietly deployed Rafale fighter jets, helicopters, transport aircraft and naval warships to support Saudi Arabia’s devastating war on Yemen, a complicity in aggression that stands in stark contrast to Cairo’s paralysis in the face of Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
Egyptian military sources confirmed that the deployment — including a squadron of Rafale jets, eight helicopters, four large transport aircraft and air defense systems repositioned to strategic locations — was underway months before President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sought parliamentary cover. 
Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty admitted on Monday that Egyptian forces had been stationed in the kingdom “a few months ago,” with Cairo now “strengthening” that presence.
The timing is damning. The current phase of the Saudi war on Yemen erupted after Riyadh bombed Sana’a International Airport in July, an act that Yemeni armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree described as ending the de-escalation phase and one that “will not go unanswered”.
Since then, Saudi F-15 and Typhoon aircraft have launched thousands of strikes on civilian sites across Sa’ada, Ta’izz, Hajjah, Hudaydah, Al-Jawf and Lahj, with Saree reporting 91 airstrikes and missile attacks in a single 24-hour period earlier this month and a cumulative total of 4,460 since the escalation began.
Egypt’s role in enabling this campaign is not defensive posturing. Egyptian naval vessels have moved toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and Cairo’s air defense systems have been repositioned to protect the very infrastructure from which Saudi warplanes launch their sorties. 
While Sisi’s government frames the deployment as protecting Red Sea shipping, the effect is unmistakable: Egyptian military assets are shielding the Saudi war machine as it pounds Yemen’s civilian population.
The financial motive is equally transparent. Just days before Sisi’s public pledge to defend Saudi Arabia, Riyadh agreed to renew a $5.3 billion deposit at Egypt’s central bank — a lifeline for Cairo’s struggling economy. 
Egyptian military sources acknowledged that “Saudi economic support for Egypt is also part of the objectives behind the Egyptian move”. Cairo is selling its military for cash while Yemeni children die under Saudi bombs.
And yet the same Egyptian government that rushes to defend Riyadh has offered only words as Israel wages its campaign of annihilation against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 
Egypt’s foreign minister has condemned Israeli restrictions on aid and settler violence, but Cairo has not moved a single soldier, deployed a single aircraft, or imposed a single consequence on the Zionist regime. The contrast is grotesque: Egyptian Rafales stand ready to protect Saudi airspace while Gaza burns.