New York, Jan. 28 -- The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), speaking in Damascus, has called on the world to boost investment in Syria's people and communities to help ease the highest levels of hunger in 12 years.

WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, said that if we don't address this humanitarian crisis, "things are going to get worse than we can possibly imagine".

Following 12 years of brutal conflict, an economy crippled by runaway inflation, a currency that has collapsed to a record low and soaring food prices, 12 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from, said WFP.

A further 2.9 million people are at risk of sliding into hunger, which means 70 per cent of the population may soon be unable to put fo...