UNITED NATIONS, Ramadan 14, 1436, Jul 1, 2015, SPA-- The World Food Program (WFP) said Wednesday that a severe lack of funding is forcing it to implement deeper cuts in food assistance to Syrian refugees across Lebanon and Jordan. According to a statement from the U.N. agency, the WFP’s regional refugee operation remains 81 percent underfunded and requires an immediate $139 million in order to continue assistance to “desperate” refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and Iraq until the end of the summer. “Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, we are forced yet again to make yet more cuts,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe Muhannad Hadi said in the statement. “Refugees were already struggling to cope with what little we could provide.” The WFP said that since the beginning of this year it has sought to prioritize available funds in order to ensure continued assistance to families most in need. However, the growing limitations on resources have already forced the agency to reduce its range of assistance to 1.6 million Syrian refugees in the five countries. “We are extremely concerned about the impact these cuts will have on refugees and the countries that host them. Families are taking extreme measures to cope such as pulling their children out of school, skipping meals and getting into debt to survive. The long-term effects of this could be devastating,” Hadi said. --SPA 20:32 LOCAL TIME 17:32 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w