Syria's coastal areas ravaged by wildfires

The National

2 days ago

Forest fires raged on Sunday in Syria's coastal area for a fifth consecutive day, with neighbouring countries offering assistance to emergency workers battling to extinguish the blaze.
Raed Al Saleh, Syria's Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, described the wildfire, which started on Wednesday, 'one of the most difficult" to tackle due to the region's rugged terrain. The fires have affected 50 square kilometres, he added.
Turkey and Jordan have sent fire engines and will soon fly planes overhead to help contain the fires. The Syrian government has so far mobilised 160 fire engines, Mr Al Saleh said. No casualties have been reported.
The coast, where most of the fires have occurred, contains most of Syria's green cover, about 4,000 square kilometres, or 2 per cent of Syria's land mass, in 2010, according to data recorded before the civil war broke out.
Decades of illegal logging and unlicensed building and farming, particularly during the 13-year conflict, have compromised the country's forests. The war ended in December, when an offensive, led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, toppled 54 years of Al Assad family rule.
The fires have been rampaging across the Latakia, Baniyas and Tartous governorates. Syrian Civil Defence head Munir Mustafa attributed the rapid spread of the flames to high temperatures and strong winds.
An Alawite telegram group with 82,000 subscribers said the radical Ansar Al Sunna group lit fires in the grasslands deliberately. Several Sunni Facebook pages blamed Alawite regime remnants but no one provided any proof.
Alawite civil figure Mohammad Al Zuaiter told The National that civil defence crews working overnight had stopped the flames from spreading into the villages of his home area of Wadi Juhannam in Banias governorate.
Mr Zuaiter said negligence was probably involved but added that "there are lunatics from both sides who would like to burn not just forests", referring to the Alawite community and pro-government forces.
Syria, once a regional breadbasket, is undergoing one of its worst droughts in decades. In the late 2000s, the country became a wheat importer due to a lack of rain and the illegal use of water wells, which affected underground reservoirs.