UN official appeals for Lebanon’s ports, airports to stay open | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

BEIRUT – A senior United Nations official said during a visit to Beirut on Saturday that he was concerned that Lebanon’s ports and airport could be put out of operation, with serious consequences for the county’s food supplies, as Israel continues its offensive against the Lebanese continues militant group Hezbollah.

“What I saw and heard today is devastating, but the feeling is that it can get much worse and that must be avoided,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, said in an interview with The Associated Press .

He called for “every possible diplomatic effort to find a political solution” to the war and to keep supply lines open.

“We have major concerns and there are many, but one of them is actually that we need the ports and the supply routes to continue to operate,” Skau said.

Hunger has skyrocketed in Gaza as humanitarian organizations have complained of major obstacles to the movement of food and other supplies to the blockaded enclave.

Skau said he believed Israeli authorities had made “commitments” that Lebanon’s ports and airport would not be decommissioned.

“But of course this is a very changing environment. So we don’t take anything for granted,” he said.

In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up its air strikes and launched a ground invasion of Lebanon.

The government estimates that around 1.2 million people are displaced in Lebanon, of which around 200,000 are housed in collective shelters where the WFP is providing them with meals.

Skau noted that food prices have already risen as a result of the conflict, although Lebanon’s only international airport and its main seaports are still operational. The WFP has stockpiled enough food to feed 1 million people – about a fifth of Lebanon’s population – for up to a month, he said, but is now trying to build up supplies to feed that number until the end of the year.

“Of course we need to increase our inventories and for this the ports and other supply lines will be crucial,” he said.

For example, the agency has brought food overland from Jordan to Lebanon via Syria, he said. Earlier this month, access to this border crossing was cut off by an Israeli attack on the road to the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

Since the Masnaa border crossing was destroyed, people fleeing Lebanon have continued to cross on foot, while vehicles – including those carrying aid for the WFP – have had to use another crossing in the far north of the country, making the journey more difficult and difficult more difficult makes expensive.

Skau called for the Masnaa border crossing to be reopened.

Lebanon’s General Security Service, which monitors border crossings, has recorded 320,184 Syrians and 117,727 Lebanese citizens crossing Syria since September 23, when the major escalation of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon began.

The influx comes at a time when the WFP has reduced its food aid to Syria due to funding constraints.

“We went from supporting about 6 million people to about 1.5 (million) in the last two years,” Skau said. “And of course our capacities have shrunk and now we have to scale again.”