World Food Programme Warns Lebanon Facing Food Security Crisis Due To Iran War

GENEVA, April 10 (Reuters) – Lebanon faces a food security crisis due to Israel’s attack on the militant group Hezbollah, disrupting supplies of goods and driving up prices, the United Nations World Food Program said on Friday.

The fragile two-day ceasefire has halted U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran but has so far failed to calm the situation in Lebanon, where Israel began striking the country, especially the south, after it opened fire on the country on March 2 in support of Hezbollah patron Iran.

“What we are witnessing is not just a displacement crisis, it is rapidly evolving into a food security crisis,” said World Food Programme country director Allison Oman, speaking via video link from Beirut.

He warned that food was becoming increasingly unaffordable due to rising prices and demand among displaced families.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade said in a statement that Lebanon’s food stocks at the national level are sufficient for three to four months, and that supply chains and import-export operations at ports and land crossings are functioning normally.

However, WFP said vegetable prices have increased by more than 20 percent since March 2 and bread prices have increased by 17 percent.

“What we are seeing now is a very worrying combination: prices are rising, incomes are disrupted and demand is rising while many families continue to be displaced,” Oman said.

Oman said Lebanon was facing a two-tier crisis where some markets had completely collapsed, especially in the south where more than 80 percent of markets were no longer functioning, while those in Beirut were under increasing pressure.

While national-level markets were generally functioning, many traders in conflict-affected areas in southern Lebanon reported less than a week’s supply of basic food supplies.

The trade ministry said strategic food and fuel reserves were available.

It was also becoming increasingly difficult to deliver food aid to hard-to-reach areas in the south.

Although the Qasmiyeh bridge, which was hit earlier, is now operational, movement remains challenging. Ten WFP convoys have reached the south to provide assistance to some of the estimated 50,000 to 150,000 people in need of humanitarian support in that part of the country.

“This escalation of tensions is pushing vulnerable communities closer to the edge,” Oman said, adding that approximately 900,000 people across Lebanon were facing food insecurity before the latest tensions, and that number is expected to rise.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Miranda Murray, Alex Richardson and Sharon Singleton)