EU donates $6.25m to WEP for displaced Iraqis in Syria

Some 2.2 million Iraqis have fled their country in recent years, many of them to Syria. Over the past year, their plight has been exacerbated by rising food and fuel prices, with the staple rice going up by more than 140% and diesel by 350% since January.

WFP's current regional emergency operation provides food assistance to a total of 1.1 million people, both inside Iraq and in Syria.

Since 1964, WFP has provided about $400m of food assistance to Syria through development and emergency operations, targeting the poorest rural communities in marginalised areas, primarily small subsistence farmers, herders and rural women.

Since 2006, the European Commission has supported vulnerable populations in Iraq, Syria and Jordan affected by the conflict with humanitarian aid worth EUR42.8m, including today's allocation.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN's frontline agency for hunger solutions. This year, WFP plans to feed 90 million people in 80 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org.

WFP now has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.