Lebanon is facing a food security crisis as the Iran war disrupts supplies of goods inside the country, the United Nations World Food Programme said on Friday.
A fragile two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran showed further strain on Friday, a day before they are expected to negotiate in Pakistan, as Washington accused Tehran of breaching promises on the Strait of Hormuz and Israel struck Lebanon with attacks that Iran has claimed violate the truce.
Unaffordability And Displacement Crisis
“What we’re witnessing is not just a displacement crisis; it is rapidly becoming a food security crisis,” said World Food Programme country director Allison Oman, speaking via video link from Beirut.
She warned that food was becoming increasingly unaffordable due to rising food prices and rising demand among displaced families.
Lebanon faces a two-layered crisis, in which some markets have fully collapsed – especially in the south, where more than 80% of markets are no longer functioning – while those in Beirut are under increasing strain, Oman said.
Many traders are reporting less than one week of essential food stocks remaining, she added.
The ability to deliver food aid into hard-to-reach areas in the south, which has faced heavy bombardment by Israeli airstrikes since March 2, was becoming increasingly difficult.
A WFP convoy that entered the south this week took over 15 hours, when it normally should have taken hours.
Continued Strikes On Lebanon
Currently, Lebanon is undergoing heavy attacks by Israel’s military.
The latest tit-for-tat attacks come after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of Lebanon in the war killed more than 300 people on Wednesday, and ahead of scheduled Iran–U.S. talks in Pakistan following their agreement to a two-week ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he has instructed Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon that would include disarming Hezbollah.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters Lebanon had spent the last day pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, describing the effort as a “separate track but the same model” as the U.S.-Iran truce.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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