Summary: President Sisi is developing a new foreign policy which could make Egypt a new ideological power in the region if it it is not foreclosed by domestic problems or old allies.
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The reference to “Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki” underlines that Sisi’s expression of support took place in 2014 when Isis was on the ascendant. It may have owed more to Sisi’s counter-terrorism policy and sent a signal that Sunni Egypt would not align with Isis on sectarian grounds. I’m less sure that it supports the article’s central thesis. The article also does not mention Sisi’s offer in April 2016 to transfer sovereignty over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. He persisted with this transfer by pressing it through parliament in 2017 in the face of the strongest public expression of resistance to his regime. There are good historical Egyptian reasons for avoiding entanglement in Yemen in spite of strong economic arguments for not alienating the new Saudi government. Overall, an autonomous and diversified foreign policy makes sense but not every policy measure should be interpreted in a single light.