ROME: The World Food Programme on Sunday said it had launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the escalating conflict in Lebanon.
“A further acceleration of the conflict this weekend underscored the need for an immediate humanitarian response,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement, announcing that it was distributing ready-to-eat food rations, bread, hot meals and food parcels to shelters across the country.
Israel on Sunday said that it was carrying out new air strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, two days after killing the Iran-backed group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in bombing raids outside Beirut.
His killing marked a sharp escalation in nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the latter’s Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The bombing in Lebanon is “compounding the fragility of a population burdened by accumulated crises,” the WFP said.
“In just a few days, WFP assistance has reached thousands of newly displaced people,” the program’s country director for Lebanon, Matthew Hollingworth, said in the statement.
“As the crisis deepens, we are preparing to assist up to one million people through a mix of cash and food support,” he added, calling on the international community to mobilize $105 million to fund the operation through to the end of the year.
“Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another war,” said WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer.
UN sends emergency food aid for one million Lebanese
https://arab.news/8w6eb
UN sends emergency food aid for one million Lebanese
Latest US sanctions target Houthi funding networks, Treasury says
- Since 2023, the Houthis have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration issued fresh sanctions on Friday further targeting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and the transfer of oil products, weapons and other so-called dual-use equipment that it said helped fund the group.
The action targets 21 individuals and entities as well as one vessel, including some alleged front companies in Yemen, Oman and the UAE, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement.
“The Houthis threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
The move builds on previous Treasury action to pressure the Houthis “vast revenue generation and smuggling networks, which enable the group to sustain its capability to conduct destabilizing regional activities,” including the Red Sea attacks, the department added.
Since 2023, the Houthis have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies, including on the Houthis in Yemen. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Daphen Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
