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STORY: UN / SYRIA FUNDING SHORTFALLS
TRT: 02:10
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
13 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, spokesperson Farhan Haq at the podium
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Critical funding shortfalls are forcing the World Food Programme (WFP) to significantly scale back its operations in Syria. WFP has reduced its emergency food assistance by 50 percent, from 1.3 million people to 650,000 people in May, and halted a nationwide bread subsidy programme that has supported millions daily. The bread subsidy programme has been a vital lifeline. Through this initiative, WFP supported more than 300 bakeries with fortified wheat flour, enabling subsidised bread to reach up to four million people each day in highly vulnerable areas. While there have been signs of stabilisation in parts of the country, 7.2 million people in Syria remain acutely food insecure, including 1.6 million facing severe conditions. Many households are already unable to meet their daily food needs, resorting to reduced food portions, less nutritious meals, or skipping meals altogether. Funding shortfalls are also affecting Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. In Lebanon, many refugee households remain heavily reliant on assistance. In Jordan, WFP has been forced to halt cash-based food assistance for 135,000 Syrian refugees living in host communities while continuing reduced support for around 85,000 refugees in camps. In Egypt, 20,000 Syrians are facing reduced support. WFP warns that without urgent and sustained funding, we risk reversing years of progress and pushing millions deeper into food insecurity, both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries hosting refugees. WFP requires $189 million over the next six months to sustain and restore life-saving assistance inside Syria. In 2025, WFP reached 5.8 million people across all 14 governorates through a combination of emergency food assistance, bread subsidies, nutrition support, livelihoods programmes, and social protection.”
5. Wide shot, end of briefing
United Nations spokesperson, Farhan Haq, today (13 May) told reporters in New York that “critical funding shortfalls are forcing the World Food Programme (WFP) to significantly scale back its operations in Syria,” having to reduce its emergency food assistance by 50 percent.
WFP, Haq said, reduced its assistance “from 1.3 million people to 650,000 people in May, and halted a nationwide bread subsidy programme that has supported millions daily.”
He said, “while there have been signs of stabilisation in parts of the country, 7.2 million people in Syria remain acutely food insecure, including 1.6 million facing severe conditions. Many households are already unable to meet their daily food needs, resorting to reduced food portions, less nutritious meals, or skipping meals altogether.”
Haq said funding shortfalls are also affecting Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, including Lebanon, where “many refugee households remain heavily reliant on assistance” and Jordan, where “WFP has been forced to halt cash-based food assistance for 135,000 Syrian refugees living in host communities while continuing reduced support for around 85,000 refugees in camps,” while in Egypt, “20,000 Syrians are facing reduced support.”
WFP requires $189 million over the next six months to sustain and restore life-saving assistance inside Syria. In 2025, WFP reached 5.8 million people across all 14 governorates through a combination of emergency food assistance, bread subsidies, nutrition support, livelihoods programmes, and social protection.
