WFP’s Syria aid termination worsens situation – AANES official
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The World Food Program’s (WFP) termination of its aid program in Syria will have consequences on the humanitarian situation, an official in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the WFP has announced that it will end its primary aid program in Syria in January due to diminishing budget.
Sheikhmus Ahmad, the co-chair of the AANES Office of IDPs and Refugees Affairs, said that the WFP’s ending of its aid program “will affect the region as it is going through an economic and humanitarian crisis.”
“Since the beginning of 2023, there has been a shortage in WFP’s aid deliveries, which openly stated that it lacks support,” he added.
The World Food Program has been providing support to Syrians since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, spending billions of dollars in various humanitarian fields and delivering tons of food to millions of people.
The program currently supports over 300,000 women, including pregnant and lactating women, and children between the ages of six months and two years old.
Due to the large number of IDPs exceeding the capacity of the AANES, the official underscored the importance of maintaining the flow of aid to the IDP camps.
The humanitarian plight in Syria continue to deteriorate. Around 90 percent of the country’s population is living below poverty line, and approximately 12 million Syrians are food insecure, three million of whom are grappling with acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations.
Ahmad also noted that the AANES has launched an initiative, expressing its readiness to receive forcibly deported Syrian refugees in Lebanon after receiving the necessary support by the United Nations.