6/7/2025–|Last update: 23:28 (Mecca time)
The huge fires continue to show off for the fourth consecutive day in the province Latakia The coastal northwestern Syria, where the Syrian authorities announced today, Sunday, that the fires destroyed about 10,000 hectares of forests and agricultural lands, in what officials described as a “real environmental disaster.”
This catastrophe is associated with wide displacement waves of the people, fears of fire to natural reserves and populated areas.
“Hundreds of thousands of forest trees have become ash,” the Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Raed Al -Saleh said, noting that 80 civil defense teams, with the participation of more than 100 firefighters from Syria, Jordan and Turkey, are continuing their efforts to put out the fires.
Al -Saleh explained that the control operations are “at a high rate”, but it requires days of monitoring and follow -up before announcing the extinguishing of the fire permanently.
For its part, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that the Air Force is participating in the firefighting operations, and published footage of helicopters that pull water and throw them on fires.
The Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that the emergency teams are working to prevent fire from reaching the Franks Nature Reserve, which is one of the largest forest reserves in the country.
Injuries and displacement
The Syrian Minister of Emergency said that 8 members of the civil defense were injured during the firefighting operations, while no civilian casualties were recorded so far.
The minister pointed out that a number of villages were abandoned by the population. He also pointed out that the remnants of war and mines hinder the arrival of firefighting teams to some areas, which doubles field challenges.
Al -Saleh said that the authorities are considering providing compensation to those affected by fires, stating that the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor will visit the region soon to assess the situation.
A joint field operations room was also established in cooperation with local Syrian organizations to provide logistical and field support.
Al -Saleh concluded by saying: “We feel sorry and sadness over every tree that was burned, as it was a source of pure air for us.” He added that the government is working in coordination with international bodies to prepare plans to restore forests in the short, medium and long term.
In turn, she confirmed United Nations The fires destroyed large areas of agricultural lands and biological infrastructure, and forced hundreds of families to flee their homes.
UN support
Teams from the Jordanian Civil Defense arrived in Syria through the Nassib border crossing, equipped with modern equipment and 6 helicopters, according to the Jordanian Ministry of Emergency.
Türkiye has also sent 16 teams and support equipment to participate in extinguishing fire.
In the same context, the deputy of the United Nations envoy to Syria, Najat Rushdi, said that Syria “needs more international support”, while the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in the country, Adam Abdel -Mawla, confirmed that the United Nations teams started with “urgent assessments” to determine the size of the disaster and determine the most urgent human needs.
This catastrophe comes amid a suffocating drought in the country recently, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (Food and Agriculture Organization has previously (FawIf last June it warned that Syria “has not witnessed climate conditions for this bad for 60 years,” noting that drought threatens more than 16 million people with food insecurity.