The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it plans to feed one million people in Syria affected by the ongoing fighting, up from its initial target of 850,000.

“At the moment we are nearing our target of feeding 850,000 people in Syria, which was our target for the end of July but which we did not reach because of the deteriorating security situation,” WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.

“By the end of September we hope to feed one million,” she added.

In Aleppo, Syria’s second city and scene of heavy fighting between government forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad and rebels, the UN food agency has delivered aid to 100,000 people since the beginning of July.

In the last two weeks the agency has fed 60,000 people alone in the city and “a further 25,000 people will need help in the coming days”, said Byers. Efforts to expand the agency’s operations continue “despite the difficulties and the violence”, Byers said, adding that the agency relied on partners on the ground including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC).

In Homs, the UN agency has also finalised an agreement with a local humanitarian organisation to distribute 40 per cent of its food baskets.

The remaining 60 per cent will be delivered by SARC, said Byrs.

Humanitarian workers are being caught up in the fighting in Syria, threatening the supply of emergency medical aid to Syrian civilians, the British Red Cross said on Friday, says a London report.

“Some of the worst fighting is now in Aleppo, and aid workers are at daily risk in the city,” the charity said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian economy has been hit hard by more than 17 months of revolt but may still hold on despite international sanctions with the help of friendly countries such as Russia, Iran and Iraq, experts say, says a Beirut report. All economic indicators in Syria, where Assad is trying to crush an uprising against his rule, are in the red: The economy is contracting, inflation rates have skyrocketed, unemployment has risen and the current account deficit continues to increase.