President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday moved to restore awards to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The quick reversal of decisions made just days ago underscored the rash nature of Trump's decisions towards foreign aid. That has led to programs being cut, restored then cut again, disrupting international humanitarian operations. USAID Acting Deputy Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.

The administration has also resumed four awards to the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region.

"Sorry for all the back and forth on awards," Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters. "There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility," he added.

Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion. According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of current and former U.S. officials, the WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million.

Many of the terminated programs had been granted permission by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio following an initial round of cuts to foreign aid programs. The State Department said those did not reflect a final decision.

A 'death sentence'

The decision to restore aid followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources said.

WFP said on Monday that the U.S. notified the organization it was eliminating emergency food assistance funding in 14 countries, warning: "If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation."

The U.S. did not restore aid to Afghanistan or Yemen. Washington has been the largest aid donor to both countries, which have both suffered years of devastating war. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the U.S. had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the Houthis and the Taliban.

"There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been rolled back and put into place," Bruce said, adding that the administration remains committed to foreign aid.

Among the cuts over the weekend were $169.8 million for the WFP in Somalia, covering food assistance, nutrition for malnourished babies and children. In Syria, $111 million was cut from food assistance. The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration's drive to dismantle USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency.

The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since Trump began his second term on January 20 in an overhaul that officials described as marked by chaos and confusion.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rubio regarding plans to restructure the State Department, including by folding in USAID, which they said was "unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging, and inefficient."