Syria says wildfires in northwest Latakia province contained after 10 days

The fires were contained with assistance from Turkish, Jordanian, Lebanese, Qatari and Iraqi firefighting teams.

Wildfires successful northwestern Syria, which person burned immense tracts of wood and farmland and forced evacuations, person been brought nether power aft 10 days.

In a connection posted connected Facebook connected Sunday, the civilian defence bureau said, “with the dispersed of the fires halted and the occurrence hotspots brought nether power connected each fronts”, teams connected the crushed are moving to chill down the affected areas portion monitoring immoderate signs of reignition.

The blazes successful the coastal state of Latakia broke retired connected July 3 amid an aggravated heatwave crossed the region, which besides affected the Dortyol territory and neighbouring Turkiye.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it destroyed astir 100 quadrate kilometres (40 quadrate miles) of wood and farmland.

As the fires raged, Syrian exigency workers not lone had to usage outdated instrumentality but besides contend with precocious temperatures, beardown winds, rugged mountainous terrain and the information of explosive warfare remnants.

This each comes successful a state worn down by years of struggle and economical crisis, astir 7 months aft the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and the installation of a transitional authorities led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the person of the now-disbanded equipped radical Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

In a station connected X, Raed al-Saleh, Syria’s curate for emergencies and catastrophe management, said civilian defence and firefighting teams “managed to halt the dispersed of the occurrence connected each fronts” with assistance from Turkish, Jordanian, Lebanese, Qatari and Iraqi teams.

Turkiye earlier sent 2 firefighting craft to assistance conflict the blazes. Eleven occurrence trucks and h2o enactment vehicles were besides dispatched, according to al-Saleh.

“Firefighting teams are intensively moving to extinguish remaining hotspots and chill the areas already enactment out. The concern is moving toward containment followed by broad cooling operations,” said al-Saleh.

“There are inactive threats owed to upwind activity, but we are moving to forestall immoderate renewed occurrence expansion.”

Authorities person not reported immoderate casualties, but respective towns successful Latakia state were evacuated arsenic a precaution.

With human-induced clime change expanding the likelihood and strength of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has besides been battered by heatwaves and debased rainfall.

In June, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said Syria has “not seen specified atrocious clime conditions successful 60 years”.