Yemen (MNN) — Houthi militants in Yemen promise revenge following targeted overnight airstrikes by Western forces.
U.S. and British teams struck eight different locations, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands. Since November, the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on tankers traveling through the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Trey Hulsey, a consultant to Middle East ministries, says the conflict makes life in Yemen increasingly difficult.
“The people who are really suffering are the regular, average people who don’t have other options. Those in power, whether that be the UN-recognized government or the Houthis, they’re benefiting from what’s going on,” Hulsey explains.
Corruption is widespread. For example, “if the U.S. government says, ‘I’m going to give you $4 million a year to fight terrorism in your country,’ [it] kind of incentivizes me to never actually win because if I win, then the U.S. government funding stops. But if I keep fighting, I have that money coming in,” Hulsey says.
Exploitation even reaches the aid sector. “Whether it’s cash or food distribution, relief work, medicine — all of that has to pass through ports controlled by people in power,” Hulsey says.
“Somebody [in power] gets something before any of the aid gets to the people on the ground.”
Yet hope remains in Yemen. The Body of Christ is not only growing – it’s thriving. Ask the Lord to give Christian leaders wisdom to navigate Yemen’s complex environment.
“Ten or 15 years ago, we had scattered numbers of believers, but now we’ve got this distinct, emergent body that is clearly Yemenis who identify as Christians and practice the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism,” Hulsey says.
“It’s still dangerous to publicly identify yourself as anything other than Muslim, but we can confidently say about 7,000 believers are living in Yemen, and they’re doing wonderful things.”
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Lara Jameson/Pexels.
