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19 Million Yemenis Will Need Food Assistance by 2025

Millions of Yemeni families, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, will face continuing gaps in food consumption (United Nations)
Millions of Yemeni families, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, will face continuing gaps in food consumption (United Nations)
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19 Million Yemenis Will Need Food Assistance by 2025

Millions of Yemeni families, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, will face continuing gaps in food consumption (United Nations)
Millions of Yemeni families, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, will face continuing gaps in food consumption (United Nations)

The number of Yemenis who will continue to be in dire need of urgent food assistance is expected to rise to 19 million people by next year, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) said in a report this week.
Meanwhile, a group of more than 10 countries issued a statement warning from the effects of climate change on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, which is suffering as a result of the war launched by Houthis against the legitimate power since 2014.
On Wednesday, the Joint Pledges on Climate, Peace and Security, which includes France, the United States and the United Kingdom affirmed the need to work with the international community to address the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and enhance sustainable management of natural resources in Yemen as part of broader humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding efforts.
Additionally, those countries demanded the need to enhance coordination of global efforts to build local resilience to climate hazards and strengthen disaster risk management and response.
“We call on the wider UN system to support efforts towards more sustainable food systems, efficient water and energy use, as well as increased renewable energy usage,” they said in a statement.
The 11 countries also said the protracted conflict in Yemen has led to significant damage to infrastructure and economic collapse, with 18.2 million Yemenis suffering from food insecurity and are in need of humanitarian assistance to survive and 75% of these are women and children.
They also said that this dire humanitarian situation in Yemen is being exacerbated by climate change-related hazards, such as increased temperatures, drought, and desertification, as well as erratic rainfall patterns and flash flooding.
The countries warned that Yemen is already one of the most water-stressed countries in the world.
Moreover, they said, worsening heavy rains and flooding have heightened the risks posed by landmines and other unexploded ordnance, and have increased the risk of cholera transmission through the contamination of water supplies.
The countries added that depletion of groundwater reserves and the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, have led to the degradation of agricultural land and worsened food insecurity, which is a driver of displacement and local conflict, as competition over scarce resources increases.
They also recognised the multifaceted linkages between climate change, conflict, displacement and increased poverty and vulnerability that all contribute to the worsening security and humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“We will work to address the interconnected challenges of conflict and climate change to ensure that immediate and uninhibited humanitarian assistance can continue to be provided alongside achieving a stable and sustainable future for Yemen,” the group of 11 countries said.
They also renewed their support for an inclusive political settlement under the auspices of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen as the only way to bring sustainable peace and long-term stability to Yemen, and to address these challenges.
Meanwhile, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) expected an increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian aid in Yemen to about 19 million people by March 2024, particularly in Houthi-controlled areas.
In its Yemen Food Security Outlook till May 2025, the network said households continue to contend with long-term impacts of the protracted conflict, including very poor macroeconomic conditions.
It said the business environment continues to erode due to currency shortages in Houthi-controlled areas while areas under the rule of the internationally-recognized government witness currency depreciation and inflation.
Also, the Network showed that Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse outcomes are expected to persist nationwide, with assistance needs peaking in the range of 18.0-18.99 million during the February-March semi-lean season period in the highlands, prior to the start of the next agricultural season in highland areas.
It then said that millions of households, particularly in Houthi-controlled areas, are expected to face persisting food consumption gaps due to very poor economic conditions characterized by currency depreciation, high food prices, and lack of income-earning opportunities.
Meanwhile, the United Nation affirmed that its multi-sectoral Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) led by UNFPA in collaboration with WFP, UNICEF and other humanitarian partners play a pivotal role in addressing the urgent needs arising from conflict and climate-induced disasters in Yemen.
Since January 2024, it said some 489,545 individuals have been displaced due to armed conflict and severe weather conditions. Among them, 93.8% (459,347 individuals) were severely impacted or displaced by climate-related crises while 6.2% (30,198 individuals) were displaced due to conflict.

 

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Arab World

Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
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Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border on Saturday, pledging reconstruction.

It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January.

Swathes of south Lebanon's border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometers (20 miles) further south.

Visiting Tayr Harfa, around three kilometers from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said frontier towns and villages had suffered "a true catastrophe".

He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns.

Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags.

In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said authorities would "rehabilitate 32 kilometers of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure" and power lines in the district.

Last year, the World Bank announced it had approved $250 million to support Lebanon's post-war reconstruction, after estimating that it would cost around $11 billion in total.

Salam said funds including from the World Bank would be used for the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects.

The second phase of the government's disarmament plan for Hezbollah concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers south of Beirut.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Despite the truce, Israel has kept up regular strikes on what it usually says are Hezbollah targets and maintains troops in five south Lebanon areas.

Lebanese officials have accused Israel of seeking to prevent reconstruction in the heavily damaged south with repeated strikes on bulldozers, excavators and prefabricated houses.

Visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday said the reform of Lebanon's banking system needed to precede international funding for reconstruction efforts.

The French diplomat met Lebanon's army chief Rodolphe Haykal on Saturday, the military said.

Arab World

Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Iraq has so far received 2,225 ISIS group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.

They are among up to 7,000 ISIS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at "ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities".

Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF's role in confronting ISIS had come to an end.

Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister's office, told AFP on Saturday that "Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition", which Washington has led since 2014 to fight IS.

He said they are being held in "strict, regular detention centers".

A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the "continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition".

On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.

- Iraq calls for repatriation -

ISIS seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.

Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the extremists.

In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offences.

Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.

On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military's operation.

In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said "the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist ISIS organization before the competent Iraqi courts".

Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.

Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.

Maan noted that "the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed".

Arab World

Drone Attack by RSF in Sudan Kills 24, Including 8 Children, Doctors’ Group Says

Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Drone Attack by RSF in Sudan Kills 24, Including 8 Children, Doctors’ Group Says

Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)

A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.

The vehicle transported displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan, the doctors’ group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants, the group said.

The doctors’ group urged the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

The devastating war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to UN figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher.

It created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with over 14 million people forced to flee their homes. It fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country into famine.