Yemen: UN to Reduce Food Aid over Lack of Funds

World Food Program trucks carrying food aid in Yemen (Twitter/WFP)
World Food Program trucks carrying food aid in Yemen (Twitter/WFP)
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Yemen: UN to Reduce Food Aid over Lack of Funds

World Food Program trucks carrying food aid in Yemen (Twitter/WFP)
World Food Program trucks carrying food aid in Yemen (Twitter/WFP)

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that it would soon reduce the volume of food aid provided to 11 million Yemenis due to a lack of funding.

Three million Yemenis will receive a reduced food ration starting this month, joining the eight million that the World Food Program (WFP) had previously reduced their aid before.

According to WFP, food aid has been significantly reduced due to funding gaps.

The WFP warned that further cuts in aid are “inevitable if the funding shortfall continues” and that the number of those receiving full food ration will reduce to three million in February and further down to two million in March out of the total 13 million beneficiaries.

The cuts come at the worst times as food security indicators are the highest in years, reaching 53 percent of the population with inadequate food consumption.

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported an 11 percent increase in malnutrition cases in Marib at the end of last year, noting that the humanitarian situation for internally displaced persons (IDPs) has deteriorated.

The United Nations estimates that 85 percent of displaced families are unable to pay rent regularly as livelihoods opportunities are scarce, and a quarter of those displaced in Marib have no source of income.

Residents fear the threat of eviction, with nine in ten of the settlements built on private land and without occupancy agreements.

Also, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said that the escalation in the conflict, displacement, and death in Marib is a snapshot of the suffering faced by communities across Yemen.

“Ordinary people who have sought refuge in a place once described as an oasis of calm have become collateral damage in a protracted conflict. The only way out of this is for the warring parties to meet and negotiate a permanent peace settlement.”

Siddiquey warned that Yemen is now facing its fourth wave of COVID-19, and many displaced people lack access to basic facilities such as latrines and clean water.

Nearly eight years from the start of the conflict, only about half of the healthcare facilities are still operating, leaving two out of three Yemenis without access to health services.



Deadline for Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon Expires 

Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances drive towards the entrance of the southern Lebanese village of Houla on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances drive towards the entrance of the southern Lebanese village of Houla on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Deadline for Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon Expires 

Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances drive towards the entrance of the southern Lebanese village of Houla on February 17, 2025. (AFP)
Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances drive towards the entrance of the southern Lebanese village of Houla on February 17, 2025. (AFP)

A deadline expired Tuesday for all Israeli troops to leave south Lebanon under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, hours after Israel said it planned to remain in five strategic locations.

Israeli troops had started withdrawing Monday from some border villages, according to a Lebanese security official, but they seemed poised to stay in key areas.

"Israeli forces are beginning to withdraw from border villages, including Mais al-Jabal and Blida, as the Lebanese army advances," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Hezbollah strongholds in south and east Lebanon and south Beirut saw heavy destruction during two months of all-out war and a year of cross-border hostilities initiated by Hezbollah over the Gaza conflict.

Authorities estimate reconstruction costs could reach more than $10 billion, while more than 100,000 remain internally displaced according to United Nations figures.

Despite the devastation, thousands have been waiting eagerly since the November 27 ceasefire to return home, inspect their properties and in some cases search for the dead under the rubble.

"I miss sitting in front of my house, near my roses and having a morning cup of coffee," said Fatima Shukeir, in her sixties, who plans to return to her border village after more than a year and a half of displacement.

"I miss everything in Mais al-Jabal, I miss my neighbors. We were separated and I don't know where they went," Shukeir said.

Several border towns and villages, including Mais al-Jabal's municipality, have called on displaced residents to wait for the Lebanese army to deploy there before coming back, so as to guarantee their "safe" return.

Lebanese television channel LBCI reported Tuesday that the country's army had moved overnight into Mais al-Jabal, Blida, Yaroun, Maroun and Mahbib.

'Lost young people'

Under the ceasefire, brokered by Washington and Paris, Lebanon's military was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was extended to February 18.

Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle remaining military infrastructure there.

Hours before the deadline, Israel's military said Monday it would remain temporarily "in five strategic points" dotted along the length of the shared border in order to "continue to defend our residents and to make sure there's no immediate threat".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would do what it has to in order to "enforce" the ceasefire.

"Hezbollah must be disarmed," he added.

Lebanese authorities have rejected any extension of the withdrawal period, urging sponsors of the deal to pressure Israel to pull out.

Israeli troops are still present in a handful of villages and towns in southeast Lebanon.

"We'll go to our town and be happy (again), despite the fact that our homes have been destroyed and we lost young people," Shukeir said.

On Monday, Ramzi Kaiss from Human Rights Watch said "Israel's deliberate demolition of civilian homes and infrastructure" was making it "impossible for many residents to return".

Since the cross-border hostilities began in October 2023, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the health ministry.

On the Israeli side of the border, 78 people including soldiers have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, with an additional 56 troops dead in southern Lebanon during the ground offensive.

Around 60 people have reportedly been killed since the truce began, two dozen of them on January 26 as residents tried to return to border towns on the initial withdrawal deadline.

On Monday evening, Lebanon's government said the state should be the sole bearer of arms, in a thinly veiled message on Hezbollah's arsenal.

Calls for the Iran-backed group's disarmament have multiplied since the end of the war that has weakened the group.