Syrian Civil Defense reports major progress in containing wildfires in Latakia countryside

ISTANBUL

Syrian Civil Defense reported significant progress on Wednesday in tackling wildfires in the northern Latakia countryside.

Abdul Kafi Kiyal, the civil defense director in Syria’s coastal region, said efforts are ongoing to fully extinguish remaining hotspots and prevent the flames from spreading to new green areas, the state news agency SANA reported.

He noted that firefighting teams worked overnight to divide the fire sites and open new roads to contain the flames and stop them from spreading.

Kiyal sounded optimistic about achieving full containment of the fires in the coming hours, adding that large-scale cooling operations will follow.

On Wednesday, Civil Defense said that more than 90% of the fires in the forests of Al-Rihaniya in Jabal Turkman, Kansaba, Qanjarah, and Daghmashliya have been put out. However, strong winds and high temperatures reignited some areas and expanded the blaze.

Firefighting teams from Türkiye and Jordan took part in extinguishing the fires, with aerial support from Syrian, Turkish, Jordanian, and Lebanese aircraft.

UN teams are on the ground conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the fires and immediate humanitarian needs, SANA said.

On Tuesday, Latakia Governor Mohammad Othman and Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Saleh launched a campaign themed “With Our Hands, We Revive It” to reforest the burned areas and help affected communities.

Meanwhile, EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, said on X that the Copernicus system was activated to assist local firefighting efforts with satellite imagery.

She noted that the wildfires in Syria have displaced thousands of people and caused significant damage to vital services and rural communities amid difficult humanitarian conditions.

Syria said on Tuesday that it had reached out to the EU for support in containing the fires.

Wildfires are common in parts of Latakia during summer due to high temperatures, dense forests, and strong winds, making them difficult to contain.