Syria's massive wildfires brought under control after days of intense battles
The blazes, which started 10 days ago and swept through the heavily wooded area of several mountain ranges, were fanned by strong winds, scorching summer heat and unexploded ordnance left behind from the country's 13-year civil war.
Firefighters faced hazardous conditions with support from aerial teams and engineering units working to open firebreaks in the dense terrain.
In a statement, the Civil Defense said the spread of the fire was halted on Sunday morning, following 'extensive efforts by firefighting teams and both helicopter and glider aircraft.' Crews remain on the ground conducting cooling operations and monitoring the area to prevent new flare-ups, it added.
More than 15,000 hectares of forest were burned, according to Abed al-Kafi Kayal, a civil defense team leader. 'There are no injuries among residents,' he told The Associated Press. 'Some firefighters were hurt, mostly from slipping, road conditions or the intensity of the flames.'
Firefighting helicopters swept low over ridgelines on Saturday, dumping water onto hotspots as ground crews worked below to contain flare-ups. Among the pilots were defectors who had left the Syrian Air Force in 2012 during the uprising against President Bashar Assad. Now, some have rejoined under the new government and are contributing to the emergency effort.
Col. Ameen al-Ameen, who returned to service after 14 years, said his team has been flying 'day and night' for 10 consecutive days. 'We are extinguishing fires and doing our duty toward our country and people, who need us after this long period,' he said.
By Saturday evening, teams had successfully contained hotspots on all fronts. The civil defense statement praised the 'tremendous efforts' of Syrian firefighters along with Turkish and Arab support teams, and noted that roads and fire lines were being cut through the forest to help prevent future spread.
Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said the firefighting efforts had reached a 'promising stage' by Saturday night. 'The scene is changing, the smoke is clearing and teams continue working intensively to extinguish remaining hotspots,' he said.
The United Nations also stepped in to support the emergency response. U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, announced on Thursday the allocation of $625,000 from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to assist those affected.
Initial U.N. assessments suggest thousands have been displaced, with significant damage to farmland, infrastructure, and livelihoods in the coastal region. U.N. agencies said they are coordinating closely with local authorities and stand ready to mobilize further aid if needed.
'The wildfires have had catastrophic consequences on the local communities and require our immediate attention,' said Abdelmoula. He called on international donors to step up, warning that 'timely and flexible funding is critical to saving lives and protecting communities in moments of crisis.'
Al-Saleh praised the assistance of firefighting teams from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Qatar.
'We promise our people that we will not leave until the last spark has been extinguished,' he said.
Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions that lead to blazes.
Also, below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Iran's president was injured in Israeli airstrike on security council officials and had to escape through an emergency hatch, Tehran reveals
Iran has confirmed that president Masoud Pezeshkian was wounded during an Israeli airstrike that targeted a high-level government meeting in Tehran last month. Mr Pezeshkian, 70, is said to have sustained a leg injury and was forced to flee the building through a pre-planned emergency hatch. Six missiles reportedly struck a building in western Tehran where the Supreme National Security Council was meeting, injuring several senior officials. The strike, which was part of a 12-day war between the two nations, is said to have targeted the entrances and exits to block escape routes and disrupt air flow within the compound. Fars news, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Cops, described the strike as bearing similarities to the Israeli operation that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The report said: 'The attack occurred before noon on Monday, June 16, while a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council was being held with the heads of the three branches of government and other senior officials in the lower floors of a building in western Tehran.' 'The attackers targeted the building's entrances and exits by firing six bombs or missiles to block escape routes and cut off air flow.' Other senior officials present at the meeting reportedly included parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and judiciary chief Mohseni Ejei. Several people were injured, with Fars reporting that 'some officials, including the president, suffered minor injuries to their legs while leaving' and escaped using 'an emergency hatch that had been planned in advance'. It also noted that power was cut off on the affected floor after the explosions. The revelation is in line with claims made by Mr Pezeshkian in a recent interview, in which he accused Israel of trying to assassinate him. Speaking to political commentator Tucker Carlson, the president said: 'They did try, yes… They acted accordingly, but they failed.' However, he did not mention being injured during the interview. Despite the president's calm tone, his remarks triggered a backlash among Iranian lawmakers. Twenty-four MPs signed an open letter accusing him of undermining national security. The criticism was also aimed at his apparent willingness to re-engage with the United States, despite tensions over American airstrikes on nuclear sites and Iran's recent expulsion of the International Atomic Energy Agency. 'From a national security standpoint, such messaging risks inviting further aggression,' the MPs wrote. 'If before June 12 there were diverse views on resisting American overreach, this war generated rare unity around the necessity of confronting the United States and its proxy, the Zionist regime.' Iran has responded to the June conflict by launching a crackdown on suspected collaborators. Authorities have arrested more than 700 individuals accused of working with Israel. A new emergency espionage law is also being debated, which would introduce harsher punishments for spying, including capital punishment. Fars did not disclose the precise location of the strike, though opposition outlet Iran International reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted an area near Shahrak-e-Gharb in western Tehran on the same day.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Iran says it will respond to reimposition of UN sanctions
DUBAI, July 14 (Reuters) - Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take. A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore U.N. sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests. The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme. "The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details. The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the U.S., Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member U.N. Security Council. "The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said. "They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism." Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies. The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak". Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilised the Middle East. When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Iran's president injured in Israeli missile blitz on Tehran security meeting before he's bundled through emergency hatch
IRAN'S President was reportedly injured during an Israeli blitz during the 12-day war last month - before being bundled out of an emergency hatch. Masoud Pezeshkian was wounded in the leg and forced to flee during a high-profile emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council, Tehran said. 9 9 9 The attack on June 16 targeted the entry points of a secret underground facility in the Iranian capital with six missiles. The devastating attack left the building without power, blocked all its access points and cut off its ventilation system. But all the top officials there, including Pezeshkian, managed to escape death during the blitz which came on the fourth day of the conflict. The claims come after the Iranian President accused Israel of trying to assassinate him during the tense conflict last month. The 12-day war kicked off with Operation Rising Lion, which saw Israel attempting to derail Iran's nuclear programme by striking Tehran's enrichment facilities. During Tel Aviv's attack on the high-profile meeting, other top officials alongside Pezeshkian included Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliamentary speaker, and Mohseni Ejei, a judiciary chief. Tehran also claimed the strike had similarities to the one that eliminated long-term Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The Iranian President told Tucker Carlson last week that he had personally been the target of an Israeli attack. When asked if he had been the subject of an assassination attempt, he said: 'They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed. "I was in a meeting. We were discussing the ways to move forward, but thanks to the intelligence by the spies that they had, they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting." Trump is nominated for Nobel Peace prize as Netanyahu presents letter to Don at triumphant White House summit But Israel's defence minister Israel Katz denied the allegations - saying that "regime change" had not been a part of the plan during the blistering conflict last month. Iranian state media reported the the attack occurred "before noon on Monday, June 16, while a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council was being held". The meeting included the "heads of the three branches of government and other senior officials". State media added that the meeting was held "in the lower floors of a building in western Tehran". "The attackers targeted the building's entrances and exits by firing six bombs or missiles to block escape routes and cut off air flow," the report detailed. Investigations are now ongoing in Iran in order to find out how such a precise attack was possible. Internal probes will hope to get to the bottom of how Israel came to know the president's exact movements and the location of the top-secret Supreme National Security Council meeting. 9 9 9 Tehran has arrested more than 700 people in the wake of the war on charges of collaborating with Israel. It has also attempted to push through a new emergency spy law - which will introduce more severe punishments including the death penalty. The Supreme National Security Council is seen as Tehran's number two decision-maker, just behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Ayatollah went into deep hiding during the teetering conflict while Israel carried out its advanced air and ground attacks. The 12-day war began on June 13 when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion - a sophisticated bombing campaign which targeted Iran's military nuclear sites. The Israelis also orchestrated Operation Red Wedding - which saw 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in a near-simultaneous blitz as Tel Aviv sought to root out the country's military strength entirely. Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel, but failed to hit any strategic targets. 9 9 Less than a fortnight later, Trump joined the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran with Operation Midnight Hammer. The US military's flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs. The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran's Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant. Iran, which vowed to hit US military bases across the Middle East, sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base - America's biggest military station in the region. But Tehran seemingly cooked up a fake attack after passing warnings to its Qatari allies, which allowed all US service personnel and aircraft to be moved out of harm's way. Trump dubbed the expected response "weak" before announcing that a ceasefire deal had been reached between the Israelis and Iranians. 9 Inside Iran's brutal crackdown on its own people by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) TYRANNICAL leaders in Iran have demanded citizens act as undercover informants to turn in anyone who dares oppose the regime, insiders say. Panicked mullahs have also ordered "telecom cages" be installed around prisons as the regime wages war against its own people. Political prisoners - largely banished to death row on trumped-up charges - have been subject to extreme torture and a disturbing rate of executions in the face of growing tensions in the Middle East. Insiders say their treatment is being weaponised to deter opposition. The fight against repression has loomed large for decades in the rogue state - but the so-called 12-day war last month has made the barbaric Ayatollah more fearful than ever of being toppled. With Ali Khamenei's grip weakened by the unprecedented Israeli and US blitz, the incapacitated supreme leader has discharged fresh hell on his own people in a corrupt bid to stifle uprising. Sources inside Iran told The Sun how a direct alert has been issued to the public, urging them to report any activity linked to resistance groups of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Regime loyalists have been implored to act as informants - compiling detailed reports with photos, times, locations, licence plates and facial features of suspected individuals.
