Yemen (MNN) — Houthi rebels and U.S. forces exchange tit-for-tat fire in the Red Sea as concerns about a regional conflict rise.
A Houthi missile struck a U.S. container ship yesterday but did not cause injury or significant damage. On Sunday, U.S. forces shot down a cruise missile fired from Houthi territory toward a U.S. destroyer stationed in the Red Sea.
Trey Hulsey, a consultant for ministries focused on the Middle East, says the Red Sea provides critical access to the Suez Canal.
(Map courtesy Middle East Concern)
“If you’re not going through the Suez Canal, you’re going all the way around the entire continent of Africa,” Hulsey explains.
“It’s a significant effect that these aggressive actions are having on global shipping, and then, of course, that trickles through the global economy.”
U.S. and British air strikes on Yemen began in retaliation for Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis say their strikes are a show of support for the Palestinians and Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza.
“The Houthis are primarily an Iranian-backed political group that has engaged in what the U.S. government considers acts of terrorism,” Hulsey says, explaining some of the context surrounding Houthi aggression.
Ask the Lord to provide for His followers in Yemen. Under Houthi rule, “It’s been hard to be anything except Shia Muslim… for a very long time,” Hulsey says.
“The Houthi movement has not been kind to anyone who doesn’t identify as Shiite Muslim.”
Last week, the Biden administration added the Houthis back onto the State Department’s Entities of Particular Concern or EPC list. “The current administration removed them when they came into office,” Hulsey says.
“[Now,] the State Department is changing that designation, so it does start to affect [how] money can be moved into the country.”
Pray the EPC changes will not hinder Gospel work.
Find more ways to pray for God’s work in Yemen here.
Header and story images obtained via Wikimedia Commons.
