Facing long lines and bread shortages [14], Lebanon's government has been forced to give private importers [15] $15 million to bring more wheat into the country. But it's a short-term fix for a government that is broke and waiting for the IMF to approve a bailout [16] deal. And nations across the Middle East may be looking for similar solutions as they struggle with the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine [17]—both countries are key wheat producers, and exports are effectively cut off by the war. Oxfam is warning [26] that wheat reserves could run out within weeks in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Mercy Corps reports [27] that food prices are up in rebel-held northwest Syria, where food security was already a major concern. Last month Egypt put a cap [28] on unsubsidized bread prices before they could get too high. Yemen, which imports the vast majority of its food [29], is of particular concern as it already has so many hungry people [18] and is heavily dependent on Ukrainian wheat [30]. Last week, UNICEF said [31] that "the number of malnourished children [in the region] is likely to drastically increase."
The food crisis is deepened by a decades-worst regional drought impacting Syria [19], Iraq [20], Afghanistan [21], and especially Iran. A new assessment [22] on Iran from the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC [23]) documents water shortages, disappearing wetlands and emptying villages, making the impacts "impossible to ignore." In recent years, Iran has been roiled by lengthy protests [32] that were triggered at first by economic hardships; water shortages have added [33] to the many grievances. "Food insecurity and a breakdown in societal cohesion are highly likely to follow if increased strains on households and communities are not addressed," the IFRC assessment warns. The federation has launched an appeal [34], pegged at about $9.5 million, to help the Iran Red Crescent Society [35] respond, but sanctions on Iran continue to be a barrier to aid.
From The New Humanitarian [36], April 15
Note: A Food & Agriculture Organization report in 2017 warned that the Middle East may become "uninhabitable [37]" in a matter of decades.
