Food security

Farmers roast harvested wheat using fire in a field on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, on May 18, 2026.

Analysis

How Syria’s wheat fields turned into first battleground over reconstruction

A battle over wheat prices could be the first political contest over who reconstruction will benefit.

Haddon Barth

By Haddon Barth

Speaker of the Parliament of Iran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (R) arrives at the Burgenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne on June 21, 2026.

Iran rejects Trump's claim frozen funds will buy US soybeans: What to know

Trump said Wednesday that the US would release “some” Iranian frozen funds and would use them to purchase corn, wheat and soybeans from American farmers.

French Trade & Invest Commissioner for United Arab Emirates and Middle East and Business France's regional director for the Middle East Axel Baroux. — Business France

Interview

Franco-Gulf investment holds firm despite Iran war, French official says

French investors are reallocating capital toward strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and technology rather than pulling out of the region altogether.

Axel Baroux

France’s trade and investment commissioner for the UAE and Middle East

Janti Soeripto helps at a community kitchen serving hot meals to displaced families arriving from El-Fasher.

Interview

As Sudan war drags on, US-Iran conflict compounds humanitarian crisis in Darfur

Save the Children US President and CEO Janti Soeripto said delivering aid in Sudan remains extremely difficult, with supply trucks often delayed for weeks or months even after entering the country.

Janti Soeripto

President and CEO of Save the Children US

Latest News

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran war deepens Gaza crisis as prices soar, aid falters

Children and families gather to receive free meals shortly before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan at a displacement camp in central Gaza City, on Feb. 27, 2026.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

Sudanese army soldiers patrol an area in Khartoum North, on Nov. 3, 2024.

Battle for Khartoum at tipping point as Sudan military advances

After years of fighting between Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, the two groups’ battle for the capital city of Khartoum could be coming to a head.

Iraqi men unload humanitarian aid supplies provided by USAID to displaced Iraqis who have fled clashes between Islamic State group jihadists and Peshmerga fighters on Oct. 2, 2014, in the town of Daquq.

‘People are anxious’: USAID staff rattled by Trump's foreign aid freeze

Humanitarian organizations were bracing for foreign aid cuts but were taken aback when President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing assistance for the next 90 days.

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain delivers a speech at the first meeting of the Global School Meals Coalition, in Paris, on Oct. 18, 2023.

Interview

WFP chief McCain urges funding to alleviate Syria's hunger crisis

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain warned of donor fatigue after nearly 14 years of civil war in Syria.

Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain

WFP Executive Director

Children reach out with bowls, hoping to receive food during a distribution in Gaza City, with the population facing increasing hunger due to closed crossings. Oct. 21, 2024.

Analysis

From war to governance: Hamas challenged by security vacuum in Gaza

The Hamas government struggles to maintain its authority over Gaza amid death, destruction, severe food shortages and decimated administrative and security forces.

Abeer Ayyoub

By Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Waddani Party presidential candidate Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, also known as Irro, (C) casts his vote at a polling station.

Opposition wins election in Somaliland, signals dialogue with Somalia: What we know

Somaliland's opposition leader, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has won the presidential election, unseating the incumbent president who held office for seven years.

YOAV LEMMER/AFP via Getty Images

WFP to send aid ship to feed displaced in Lebanon

The UN food agency is raising the alarm over food insecurity and a harsh winter in the Levant as the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon continue.

Cindy McCain executive director of the UN World Food Program, is pictured at the UN Security Council in this undated image, in New York.

Interview

WFP’s McCain: 'No difference' in Gaza aid flow despite Israel’s tactical pause

Al-Monitor interviews World Food Program chief Cindy McCain about the hunger crisis gripping the Gaza Strip after more than eight months of war.

Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain

World Food Programme Executive Director

This picture taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip shows parachutes of humanitarian aid dropping over the besieged Palestinian territory on March 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Pentagon pauses humanitarian airdrops in Gaza, citing Israel's Rafah operation

The Biden administration's plan to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza is falling apart.

Displaced Syrians walk through a makeshift camp for Syrian refugees only miles from the border with Syria in the Bekaa Valley on Nov. 12, 2013, in Majdal Anjar, Lebanon.

Poverty in Lebanon tripled to 44%, as high as 62% in rural areas: World Bank

In a recent report, the World Bank revealed a three-fold increase in poverty rates in Lebanon, which is hard hit by an economic crisis and financial meltdown, with nine out of every 10 Syrians displaced in the country living under the poverty line.

A general view shows coffee beans as an Egyptian man makes coffee for German tourists at traditional cafe on the banks of the Nile River in Aswan, some 900 kilometers south of Cairo on March 13, 2016.

How climate change could make Egypt's coffee cultivation a reality

One Egyptian experiment has successfully cultivated coffee beans, but analysts believe environmental factors are still unfavorable for localizing this crop.

Pier-building begins construction of the floating JLOTS pier in the Mediterranean. The pier will support USAID and humanitarian partners to receive and deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. US Transportation Command and US European Command support the movement of humanitarian aid.

US installs Gaza floating pier despite aid groups' security fears

A senior USAID official said the United States is “not at all satisfied” with the progress of discussions with the IDF over steps to prevent Israeli soldiers from killing aid workers in Gaza.

Humanitarian aid is dropped on the Gaza Strip, west of Gaza City, on March 25, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas, with the background showing Israel's Rutenberg power station near Ashkelon.

US military halts Gaza humanitarian aid pier, citing weather

A US defense official told Al-Monitor the pier remains on schedule, but an agreement to have workers with the UN World Food Programme distribute aid from the pier remains under intensive negotiation amid significant security concerns.