Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced significant cuts to its food assistance programs in Syria due to funding shortfalls, despite ongoing high levels of need. The agency has reduced operations from 14 governorates to seven, impacting millions of vulnerable families. More than seven million Syrians are reportedly acutely food insecure, including 1.6 million facing emergency conditions, according to WFP estimates. The reductions are attributed solely to financial constraints rather than improvements in conditions, the WFP country director in Syria said. Families are now skipping meals, reducing portion sizes, and relying on less nutritious foods, significantly increasing the risk of malnutrition, especially among children.
One of the key aid programs affected is the nationwide bread subsidy, which has been halted. This program supported over 300 bakeries and provided subsidized fortified wheat to produce bread for up to four million people daily in Syria's most fragile areas. The suspension of this subsidy may worsen hunger and push families to adopt desperate coping mechanisms.
The funding crisis is also affecting the wider region. In Jordan, WFP has stopped cash-based food assistance for 135,000 Syrian refugees in host communities and reduced support to about 85,000 refugees in camps. Refugee families in Lebanon continue to face hardships due to high costs and limited income, while aid to 20,000 Syrians in Egypt has also been reduced. The cumulative effects of ongoing crises, rising living costs, and shrinking aid put vulnerable families across the region at greater risk of food insecurity.
WFP has urgently appealed for $189 million in funding to restore its operations across Syria and neighboring countries to prevent further deterioration of food security and related stability issues.