By Nazih Osseiran and Catherine Cartier
BEIRUT, March 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations launched a $325 million flash appeal on Friday to help Lebanon cope with the fallout of a war that has forced more than a seventh of its population from their homes.
"Solidarity in words must be matched by solidarity in action," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said as he announced the campaign from Beirut.
Israel launched an offensive against Hezbollah last week after the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group opened fire on it on March 2, saying it was avenging the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
Hezbollah has kept up daily rocket and drone attacks, while Israel has expanded its ground operations and air strikes, bombing the capital on Thursday along with other parts of the country on Friday.
Nearly 700 people have been killed in the attacks and more than 800,000 displaced by Israel's orders for people to leave ever larger swathes of Lebanon.
But aid organisations say funding constraints have already forced them to ration supplies and that substantial new contributions are essential.
"We're only targeting those who are really on the verge of starvation or in starvation," said Carl Skau, the World Food Programme's deputy executive director.
"There isn't any more margin, so with needs going up, resources will have to come up - and they can certainly not drop," Skau told Reuters.
'TIGHT FUNDING LANDSCAPE'
Humanitarian organizations say global crises have restricted their response in Lebanon, a country already hit hard by a 2019 economic collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion and the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Skau said the WFP fears donor governments will face new budget constraints following the spike in global energy prices triggered by the Iran war.
The U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR last September said it had only received 25% of the resources required for Lebanon in 2025, forcing it to slash cash assistance programmes.
"The current spike or the current escalation of hostilities compounds an already tight funding landscape," said Kirollos Fares, Lebanon country director at humanitarian organisation Medair.
Aid group Solidarités International had already seen a drop in both the number and size of grants, said Lebanon country director Daniele Regazzi.
“...Unless fresh money comes out, what we are deploying now as emergency response...will be gone in the next roughly couple of weeks," he said.
(Reporting by Nazih Osseiran and Catherine Cartier in Beirut; Editing by Alex Richardson and Ros Russell)
