Today's Edition
QASTAL MA'AF, SYRIA (AFP)
Syrian emergency workers were battling forest fires raging in the coastal province of Latakia on Saturday for a third day in tough conditions as neighboring Turkiye sent assistance.
Strong winds continued to fan the flames in forest areas and farmland in Qastal Maaf, around a dozen kilometers (eight miles) from the Turkiye 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 Turkiye began helping on Saturday morning "as part of regional coordination to face the fires", with the assistance including two aircraft and eight fire trucks.
Turkiye has been battling its own fires in recent days, including near the Syrian border.
Syria's civil defense said a volunteer firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation and a service vehicle caught fire.
More than 60 Syrian civil defense and other teams were fighting fires across several areas of Latakia province, the ministry said.
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 Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”
