UN agency forced to cut food aid to 200,000 Syrian refugees
The cash-strapped World Food Programme says it has had to drop a third of Syrian refugees from its aid effort in Middle East host countries this year, including more than 200,000 in Jordan who lost aid this month.
The cutbacks come at a time when more desperate Syrians are trying to reach Europe.
More than four million Syrians have fled their country’s civil war since 2011, most settling in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
WFP regional spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said the number of refugees receiving food aid had been cut from 2.1 million to 1.4 million since March.
Ms Etefa said the world must do more to support refugees in their host countries or face increasing migration, adding: “We have to help people where they are or they will move.”
