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Two days ago, devastating fires devoured large forested areas in Syria and Lebanon, bringing them closer to residents’ homes largely in some areas. Firefighting crews continue to work to extinguish these fires, with little success. In Syria, fires spread over an area of hundreds of hectares in the countryside of Latakia and Tartous governorates in the west and Homs in the center, while firefighters in Lattakia said they are “facing the largest series of fires in the last years”. On Saturday, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced 70 cases of suffocation and two deaths in Lattakia “due to severe burns.”
Two days passed and the fires that devoured large areas of the forests of Syria and Lebanon were still burning, as they approached Huge fires In some areas of citizens’ homes, fire fighting teams have not yet been able to extinguish all of them.
Since Saturday morning, Syrian state television has been broadcasting scenes from the areas of the fires, where it said firefighting crews continue to work to extinguish them, and they have spread over hundreds of hectares in the countryside of the provinces of Latakia and Tartous in the west and Homs in the center.
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On Friday evening, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Hassan Qatna spoke to local radio “Sham FM” about “45 fires in Lattakia and 33 in Tartous” and another in Homs. This is likely to be the first time Syria has witnessed “this many fires in one day”.
The Latakia Fire Brigade said on its Facebook page: “We are facing the largest series of fires the Latakia governorate has witnessed … over the years.”
On Saturday, the Syrian Health Ministry announced 70 cases of suffocation, which visited Lattakia governorate hospitals, after two deaths in Lattakia were reported on Friday “as a result of severe burns.”
The ministry said a hospital in the city of Qardaha, the birthplace of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s family, was evacuated from patients after the fire reached its surroundings.
The fire in Qardaha also reached the warehouse building of the General Tobacco Organization (Al-Rigga), according to the official news agency (SANA), which quoted the head of the storage department, Mortada Nasir, as saying that “the fire caused great damages in four warehouses to store tobacco “.
He pointed to the union of a Russian fire truck to put out the fire in the warehouses.
The fires also forced several families to flee after the fire approached their homes, according to Luay Saeed, head of the fast ambulance system in the governorate, told a local radio station.
SANA reported that houses were burned in the city of Baniyas in Tartous governorate, noting that firefighting teams were able to put out some fires in Homs.
Activists on social media distributed photos and videos showing the fires tagged “Syria is burning.” There were also appeals to parents asking for help.
The Minister of Agriculture considered that “temperatures and winds contributed to the ignition of the fires,” without specifying the causes of their outbreak.
The fires are frequent in the summer in the forests and forests of Syria, and in September large fires also broke out in large areas in separate areas in the Hama and Latakia countryside.
Fire in Lebanon
In neighboring Lebanon, since Thursday, more than a hundred fires have broken out in various forests in the south, north and east of the country and in the mountainous region of Chouf, according to the director of Civil Defense Operations George Abu Musa.
“We have exhausted 80 percent of our forces and we have used almost all of our centers in Lebanon, the situation is crazy, fires are everywhere,” said Abu Musa.
He explained that most of the fires were extinguished, noting that in the Chouf and Akkar regions, which are “difficult to access”, several huge fires continue to occur and that military helicopters are participating in the extinction. And he considered that “the wind and heat help the spread of fires”, without being able to determine the cause of their outbreak.
The National News Agency reported that army helicopters have been working since morning to extinguish fires in several villages in the Al-Matn Al-A’la region, noting that the fires “destroyed vast areas of fruitful pine trees, which they are considered one of the most important financial income for the people of the region. “
In October 2019, huge fires devoured large areas of forest in Lebanon and besieged civilians in their homes amid the inability of the authorities, who received support from several countries to put them out.
These fires caused widespread outrage and were even one of the reasons for the unprecedented popular protests that took place in Lebanon on October 17 and lasted for several months against the political class.
Environmental expert Paul Abi Rashid wrote on his Facebook page: “From the fires of October 15, 2019 to the fires of October 2020 … no officials negligent in their duties to equip the municipalities and villages in which they there are forest areas must be protected. “
France 24 / AFP
