WFP Ambassador Mahmoud Yassin to visit Iraqi refugees in Syria

Yassin will visit the Al Saydeh Zainab area near Damascus to meet some of the Iraqi families assisted by WFP. He will hold a press conference on 15 April. His visit comes at a time when WFP is urgently seeking funds to cover a shortfall of more than 60% in its $127m operation to provide food to more than 1.1 million displaced Iraqis in Iraq and Syria.

One of the best-known Egyptian and Arab film stars of all time, Yassin became a WFP Ambassador against Hunger in 2004 to help raise awareness of the plight of more than 850 million hungry people around the world. He has visited WFP field operations in Darfur, Yemen and Egypt and starred in WFP's first Arabic PSA to raise awareness of hunger.

Yassin joins other celebrities in championing WFP's cause, including Hollywood film star Drew Barrymore, another WFP Ambassador against Hunger.

WFP and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) began a massive distribution of food and other items in February in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. WFP hopes to reach some 360,000 people by the end of 2008, at a cost of around $44m.

The food distribution in Syria is part of a regional operation that also includes helping feed 750,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqis displaced within their own country.