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From Hormuz to Port-au-Prince, eight separate wars now shape one global food crisis
Sudan, Palestine and South Sudan top today's risk register as the most severe compound emergencies on record. Israel's war with Hezbollah grinds on despite a June framework: at least 4,057 Lebanese killed and 1.2 million displaced since March. Houthi forces broke Yemen's 2022 truce with a July 3 attack in Hodeidah, and new US-Houthi strikes have pushed oil to $100 a barrel. Iran's war re-escalated in July after the Islamabad Memorandum collapsed, with Hormuz traffic at roughly 15 transits daily versus about 110 before the war. Sudan's army-RSF war continues, with 33.7 million people needing aid in 2026.
The connection is food. FAO prices for August 2026 remain elevated, with oils at extreme highs, while a Hormuz chokepoint running at one-seventh of normal throughput raises costs for wheat-importing states across East Africa and the Gulf — precisely the region already hit hardest by conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Aid pipelines are thinner after USAID's 2025 dismantling, and Lebanon's agriculture is now measured as war-damaged. Nine Sahel and Horn states face famine-scale conditions while drought grips two dozen countries from Germany to Cuba.
Watch items
- Iran — Hormuz blockade impact on Gulf wheat and rice imports
- Sudan — RSF El Obeid siege and drone strikes on civilians
- Haiti — Gang Suppression Force stuck at 1,000 of 5,500 personnel