8 civil defense members injured during firefighting operations, authorities say
Wildfires continue to expand in northwestern Syria after burning 10,000 hectares of forest, officials said on Sunday.
New fire hotspots broke out in Qastal Maaf town in the countryside of Latakia, the state news agency SANA said, citing Civil Defense Director Abdul Kafi Kayyal.
Kayyal said that operations are ongoing to extinguish the flames.
“Hundreds of thousands of forest trees across an area estimated at about 10,000 hectares in 28 locations have turned to ashes due to these fires,” Minister of Emergency and Disaster Raed Saleh said in a statement on his X account.
Saleh said that over 100 teams, including those from Türkiye and Jordan, are currently operating on the field with 160 firefighting vehicles and 12 heavy engineering vehicles to extinguish the fires, in addition to helicopters provided by Jordanian and Turkish teams.
Eight civil defense workers were injured during the operations, the minister said.
No civilian injuries were reported.
The minister described the consequences of the fires as "catastrophic.”
“We are working within our capabilities,” he said, going on to thank the Turkish government for sending 16 teams to assist in extinguishing the fires, and the Jordanian government for sending firefighting teams and six helicopters.
“If the weather conditions remain as they are and the wind speed does not increase, the fires may be controlled today,” the minister said.
Syrian authorities earlier said that a joint field operation room was established, in cooperation with a number of organizations, to provide logistical and field support for the firefighting operations in Latakia.
Recently, the countryside of Latakia has seen intense wildfires due to high temperatures, exacerbated by dense forest cover and strong winds in the region.
