Lebanon’s grinding economic crisis has driven inflation up over the past three years, and the giant explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020 destroyed the country’s biggest grain silos, hobbling its ability to store wheat. Now, Russia’s unrelenting blockade of the

Black Sea amid the war in Ukraine – where Lebanon imports more than 60 percent of its wheat – is deepening the Middle Eastern nation’s food crisis.

The shuttering of Ukraine’s primary maritime gateway to the world is also turning Lebanon’s strife into a portent for what multiple wheat-importing nations might soon face, experts are warning. Moscow has accused Kyiv of mining the waters outside its ports to deter amphibious attacks, while Ukraine has, in turn, blamed Russia for placing the mines. To strangle Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea, Russia has also parked warships outside ports that are still under the control of the government in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s piled-up grains could reach 75 million tonnes by the fall, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says – even as the United Nations has cautioned that 49 million people around the world could face famine-like conditions this year.

Some experts argue that it’s time to explore a military option to help ships break through the Russian blockade.