World News – UA – Two killed as massive forest fires rage in Syria

Forest fires in parts of the country have so far killed two people and forced many to flee; Lebanon and Israel also affected by the fires

Massive forest fires in war-torn Syria this week have killed at least two people and burned swathes of land, state media and officials said, as fires also hit neighboring Lebanon

Syrian state television broadcast scenes from the affected areas on Saturday morning, where firefighters were working to put out the fires

He said hundreds of hectares had burned in the countryside of the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus in Syria, as well as in the central province of Homs

The health ministry said two people died in Latakia province on Friday as a result of the fires and 70 people from the area were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties

Dozens of fires were burning, including « 45 in Latakia and 33 in Tartous, » Syrian Agriculture Minister Mohammed Hassan Qatana told a radio station on Friday

« For the first time in its history, Syria is witnessing this [large] number of fires in a single day, » Qatana said

Lattakia firefighters said they « faced the biggest series of fires in Latakia province in years »

#Syria engulfed in flames, vast swathes of land devastated, homes destroyed, little to no support, even from allied nations When will this end! imageTwittercom / tDzlreUOwd

The state-run Sana news agency said fires burned houses in the coastal town of Banias, Tartous province, as well as in Qardahah, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad in Latakia

#Syria engulfed in flames, vast swathes of land devastated, homes destroyed, little to no support, even from allied nations When will this end! imageTwittercom / tDzlreUOwd

The fires severely damaged a building in Qardahah used as a warehouse for the national tobacco company, part of which collapsed. The town’s local hospital was also surrounded by flames, according to local media

The national news agency SANA quoted Bassem Douba, director of the forestry department of the agricultural department of Latakia, as saying that dozens of people were evacuated from their homes in several villages These people have sought refuge in central Latakia and Tartus, he said

At least four fire teams have been dispatched from the capital, Damascus, to help put out the fires Some locals have helped them by carrying water in buckets and pouring it over the flames

The fires raging in northern Syria, for the second time in months, have been started by an unusual heat wave this time of year They are likely to cause considerable financial damage in the midst of ‘a deep economic crisis paralyzing the country

Syria is currently suffering from a severe fuel shortage ahead of the winter months, as power cuts have become more frequent in a country ravaged by more than nine years of war

Among those affected by the devastating fires are landowners and farmers who depend on the agricultural sector to survive

Images posted on social media showed citrus and olive trees in flames in villages on the outskirts of Latakia

Next door in Lebanon, meanwhile, there have been more than 100 fires across the country since Thursday, according to George Abu Musa, the country’s chief of civil defense operations

« The situation is crazy, there are fires everywhere, » Abu Musa told AFP news agency. « We have mobilized 80% of our staff and almost all of our centers in Lebanon, » he said. he declared

Abu Musa said most of the fires had been extinguished but some were still burning in the mountainous region of Shouf to the south and Akkar to the north

Military helicopters were assisting firefighters in “hard to reach” areas, he added He was unable to identify the cause of the fires, but said the wind and high temperatures were helping them spread

Dozens of fires hit Lebanon in mid-October last year, amid unusually high temperatures and high winds

The government has faced strong criticism and accusations of poor preparation for its response to the 2019 fires

Days after the fires in Lebanon in 2019, mass protests erupted, sparked by proposed tax hikes but quickly turning into month-long protests against the ruling class, deemed by protesters to be inept and corrupt

Separately, authorities on Friday reported several fires in northern and central Israel and the occupied West Bank as temperatures soared, forcing thousands to evacuate

Israel police said in a statement that firefighters and police evacuated 5,000 people as the fires spread for a second day on Saturday

Forest fires, Syria, Lebanon, Middle East