Lebanon (MNN) — Murders in Lebanon have risen by 68 percent in July of 2022, compared to July 2021. Suicides rose by 42 percent. The information comes from a Beirut-based research center. Since 2022 started, murders are up by 18 percent, and suicides are up by 8 percent.
Pierre Houssney with Horizons International points to the severe economic problems facing the country. “It just feels like the Lebanese people are trapped. Some people have called it the largest open-air prison in the world currently. Because the Lebanese government has even stopped issuing passports for the people that have the resources to emigrate out of the country.”
“They have no opportunity or income. They’re relying on people that they might know outside of the country to support them.”
Many kids can’t afford school, so they simply stay home.
Anger
US company Gallup recently named Lebanon the world’s angriest country. Houssney says, “It’s like we’re going back into a previous century. And if you look at Lebanon 100 years ago, it was actually more developed in many ways than it is now.”
Houssney says Lebanon’s powerful elite have run the country into the ground with no hope in sight. “The same warlords fighting, killing people, dealing drugs, and dealing arms in the 70s and 80s are still in power today. Every election cycle, people seem to have some kind of hope. But then nothing ever happens.”
Horizons International works to provide food, medicine, and biblical counseling for people in Lebanon. They want to manifest God’s love in every part of Lebanese life. Houssney says, “Jesus came for us to have life and life to the fullest. So he cared for people and all their needs. He cared for their spiritual needs, healed them, and fed them.”
You can be a part of this work.
Header photo courtesy of Horizons International on Facebook.
