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Mideast escalation now compounds world's largest famine belt from Sudan to Somalia
Three months after the June collapse of the Iran war ceasefire, the region is layering new fronts onto old wars: Houthi forces are advancing in Yemen's Ta'iz and southern Hodeidah, displacing civilians into an aid pipeline already strained by 18 million acutely hungry people, and a drone attack from Iraqi territory shut a key Saudi oil pipeline this week. Meanwhile Sudan's RSF siege of El Obeid continues after the February UN genocide determination, South Sudan's army airstrike campaign has driven 304,000 people from Jonglei since December, and Gaza's October 2025 truce frays under expanding Israeli control.
The connection is chokepoints. Hormuz traffic is running near 15 transits daily against roughly 110 pre-war, Gulf food-import flows are rerouted at premium, and Yemen's new fighting sits directly on the Red Sea corridor East African grain depends on. With FAO food prices near record highs and droughts simultaneously active across Central America and much of Europe, import-dependent war economies, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Palestine, face compounding costs. Aid capacity is thin: Haiti's suppression force has reached only a fifth of authorized strength, and Myanmar's war continues at full intensity.
Watch items
- Yemen — Houthi advance toward Hodeidah port disrupting aid and Red Sea shipping
- Saudi Arabia — Iraqi-launched drone attack on pipeline risks further oil disruption
- Sudan — RSF siege of El Obeid deepening starvation warfare in North Kordofan