This weekend’s bombings in Lebanon were the last straw that led the World Food Program (WFP) to launch an urgent operation to bring food aid to one million people affected by the recent escalation of the conflict in Lebanon, it was announced this Saturday the United Nations agency. “A new escalation of the conflict has highlighted the need for an immediate humanitarian response,” the agency explained in a statement.
WFP, based in Rome, “distributes food rations, bread, hot dishes and hampers to families” across the country. Within days, aid will reach thousands of newly displaced people,” said program director for Lebanon, Matthew Hollingworth. “At a time when the crisis is worsening, we are preparing to support up to a million people with money and food aid,” he said.
Hollingworth therefore appealed to the international community to contribute 105 million dollars (94 million euros, at current exchange rates) to allow WFP to finance operations until the end of the year. “Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot bear another war,” added Corinne Fleischer, WFP director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, quoted in the statement.
The Israeli army announced this Saturday that it was preparing dozens of new attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, two days after killing the leader of the pro-Iranian movement, Hassan Nasrallah, in a bombing in the south of Beirut.
