Terrorist groups find common ground, while local Christians have a different mission
By Katie O'Malley | October 13, 2026
Somalia (MNN) — “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the saying goes. It seems to be true for two terrorist groups: the Houthis in Yemen and al-Shabaab in Somalia.
The groups follow different branches of Islam that often don’t get along. The Houthis follow the Zaydi religious movement within Shia Islam. Al-Shabaab is a Sunni group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
The Gulf of Aden lies between Somalia and Yemen (Stock photo courtesy of Lara Jameson via Pexels)
But over the past decade, the Houthis and al-Shabaab have built a partnership, sharing weapons, training, technology, and more. The 2026 war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran may be giving them further reason to strengthen ties.
Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says the Body of Christ must not fear terrorists like these or hard-to-reach places like Somalia and Yemen.
“We hear about the Somalias of the world and the Yemens of the world and all the terrorist activity, and it scares us. We don’t have an appetite for it,” he says.
“We need to have the opposite identity as followers of Jesus, and go on the offense and say, ‘Lord, how can you lead us into these areas so that the gospel can be presented to these very extremist groups?’ That is the only thing that is going to bring transformation.”
Somalia shares its southwestern border with Kenya, a country which Kelley calls “one of the stablest democracies in all of Africa” and whose population is just above 80 percent Christian, according to Joshua Project.
“There are Kenyans who have Somali connections, who understand the Somali language and culture that are being mobilized and going into Somalia,” says Kelley. “Because as horrible as al-Shabaab is, Jesus died for al-Shabaab. Jesus gave His life so that these guys could have access to the gospel message.”
Unknown Nations has strategic initiatives in place to reach Somalia and Yemen by equipping Christians from the same region to go.
“We need to pray for harvesters and laborers to go into these areas. It all comes down to a ground game,” says Kelley. “We can pray for local leaders to take in solar-powered audio Bibles to share the good news with these precious people.”
Header image: Mogadishu, Somalia (Stock photo courtesy of Mohamed Abukar via Unsplash)
Original Article Posted Here: https://www.mnnonline.org/news/terrorist-groups-find-common-ground-while-local-christians-have-a-different-mission/