09/03/2026 (Agence Europe) – The European Union has activated its new emergency fund for the Middle East to support Lebanon, where the regional conflict has caused massive population displacement, announced Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, in a post published on X on Monday 9 March. This funding has already enabled the World Food Programme to deploy 400 tonnes of emergency stocks from Türkiye. At the same time, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that stocks from the ReliefEU mechanism would be mobilised to help around 130,000 affected Lebanese civilians, with the first humanitarian flight scheduled for the following day. In a joint statement published the same day, Ms von der Leyen and António Costa, President of the European Council, expressed their “deep concern” about the impact of this crisis on Lebanon, reiterating the need to respect the country’s sovereignty (see other news). (JM)