Syrian emergency crews continued battling forest fires for a third straight day on Saturday in the coastal province of Latakia, with strong winds and high temperatures complicating efforts to contain the blazes and neighboring Turkey deploying assistance.
Fires were spreading across forest and farmland near Qastal Maaf, about 12 kilometers (eight miles) from the Turkish border, where residents were seen fleeing with their belongings, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported. Some residential areas were evacuated on Friday.
Syria’s ministry for emergencies and disaster management said Turkish teams joined firefighting efforts Saturday morning as part of regional cooperation. The aid included two aircraft and eight fire trucks.
Helicopters bearing Turkish flags were seen assisting crews on the ground in Qastal Maaf. Turkey has also been fighting its own wildfires in nearby provinces in recent days.
Syria’s civil defense said a volunteer firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation and one of its vehicles caught fire. The ministry said more than 60 Syrian civil defense and emergency teams were deployed across multiple parts of Latakia.
Efforts were being hampered by mountainous terrain, strong winds and residual war hazards, including unexploded ordnance and land mines, the ministry said.
More than six months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Syria remains scarred by more than a decade of civil war, which left much of the country littered with explosive remnants.
The region has also been hit hard by climate change, with prolonged drought, record heatwaves and repeated wildfires. In June, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria was experiencing its worst climate conditions in 60 years.
© Agence France-Presse