The World Food Programme said it was scaling up its deliveries of monthly food assistance to reach a total of more than 800,000 people across northwest Syria, including those recently displaced from Idlib and northern Hama.
WFP said fighting in southern Idlib and northern Hama that began late April and continued through Ramadan has displaced more than 300,000 people, with the Programme having provided emergency food assistance in the form of ready-to-eat rations to 200,000 of these people.
Fighting in north Hama and south Idlib has prompted WFP and its partners to shift food distributions to safer areas further north, with reports of population movements towards the north away from towns and villages on the frontlines of the conflict.
WFP said it had prepositioned enough ready-to-eat rations for nearly 190,000 people on the move in anticipation of further displacement.
Eight years of war in Syria have pushed millions of Syrians into hunger and poverty. The conflict has also displaced millions both inside and outside Syria. WFP said while many are returning to their homes, many others remain displaced and need support, adding that it provides assistance to some three million people every day inside the country.
WFP stressed that Syrians returning to their country and communities needed support. The Programme said it was helping Syrians produce their own food and generate an income in areas that are secure and where commerce is functioning~WFP
