Syria battles forest fires for third day as Turkey sends help

Syrian emergency workers were battling forest fires raging in the coastal province of Latakia on Saturday for a third day in tough conditions as neighbouring Turkey sent assistance.

An AFP correspondent saw strong winds fanning the flames in forest areas and farmland in Qastal Maaf, around a dozen kilometres (eight miles) from the Turkish border, as residents continued to flee with what they could carry.

Some residential areas in the region were evacuated a day earlier.

Syria’s ministry for emergencies and disaster management said teams from Turkey began helping on Saturday morning “as part of regional coordination to face the fires”, with the assistance including two aircraft and eight fire trucks.

Turkey, a key supporter of Syria’s new authorities, has been battling its own fires in recent days, including near the Syrian border.

The AFP correspondent saw helicopters bearing the Turkish flag flying over Qastal Maaf assisting firefighters on the ground.

Syria’s civil defence said a volunteer firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation and a service vehicle caught fire.

More than 60 Syrian civil defence and other teams were fighting fires across several areas of Latakia province, the ministry said.

It cited “very difficult conditions, with the explosion of war remnants and mines”, strong winds and high temperatures, adding that mountainous terrain was hampering efforts to reach some blazes.

More than six months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that also left munitions and ordnance scattered across the country.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves, low rainfall and major forest fires.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years”.