The World Health Organization (WHO) has released an additional USD 2 million in emergency funds to support health systems in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria as the wider Middle East crisis intensifies. The funding comes as strikes involving the United States and Israel against Iran continue, alongside counterstrikes by Tehran across the Gulf and the broader region. According to WHO, the new funds will help strengthen emergency coordination, trauma care, and disease surveillance, while also ensuring access to essential medicines and medical supplies for affected populations.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that rising casualties are being compounded by increasing attacks on healthcare facilities, which are placing even greater pressure on already fragile health systems. He stressed that health services are being targeted at the very moment they are most urgently needed and called on all parties to pursue peace. WHO’s regional leadership also noted that the emergency funding is especially important at a time when humanitarian aid budgets are already under significant strain, making support for frontline health workers even more critical.
In Lebanon, the renewed fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has sharply increased the burden on the healthcare system, particularly in southern areas and in Beirut. WHO highlighted that the resumption of hostilities has led to a growing number of injuries and severe pressure on hospitals and health services. The situation has become even more alarming following reports that 14 health workers were killed in southern Lebanon within a 24-hour period, including 12 doctors in a strike on the Bourj Qalauoiyeh primary healthcare centre and two paramedics in another attack on a health facility. Since 2 March, there have reportedly been 27 attacks on healthcare in Lebanon, resulting in at least 30 deaths.
In Iraq, health services are also facing mounting pressure, particularly in areas close to strike zones and locations affected by violent demonstrations. WHO said that USD 500,000 from the emergency allocation will be used to support emergency coordination, mass casualty management, and other critical health services. This funding is intended to help local health systems cope with the immediate consequences of escalating insecurity and the risk of further deterioration.
Syria will also receive USD 500,000 from the new emergency package to support the procurement of life-saving medicines and medical supplies for displaced populations, while also strengthening disease surveillance systems. The support is aimed at helping health authorities respond more effectively to the needs of vulnerable communities who are already affected by displacement and ongoing instability.
WHO also underlined that the regional health response is being hampered by a broader funding shortfall. Before the current bombing campaign against Iran began, the agency had already appealed for USD 633 million to meet health needs across the region in 2026, but by March it had received only 37 percent of that amount. This funding gap raises concerns that the ability to sustain emergency operations could be severely limited as the crisis expands.
At the same time, the security situation in southern Lebanon remains volatile for United Nations personnel. The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitors the Blue Line, reported that its peacekeepers came under fire during three separate patrol incidents over the weekend. According to the mission, the hostile fire likely came from non-state armed groups near its bases in Yatar, Dayr Kifa, and Qallawiyah. In one incident, gunfire landed as close as five metres from peacekeepers, prompting two patrols to return fire in self-defence before resuming their activities. No peacekeepers were injured, but UNIFIL stressed that the presence and use of weapons by armed groups in its area of operations violates Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently concluded a solidarity visit to Lebanon, where he strongly condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers and reiterated that such incidents are completely unacceptable. During his visit to Beirut, he also met some of the more than 800,000 civilians displaced by the conflict and again emphasized that civilians must never be targeted. The developments underscore the rapidly worsening humanitarian and security situation in the region, with both health systems and civilian populations facing escalating risks.
