The United Nations deployed teams to the Syrian coast on Monday as wildfires spread across Latakia province for the fifth day.
Adam Abdelmoula, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Syria, said the fires sweeping through Latakia have “forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, while vast tracts of agricultural land and vital infrastructure have been destroyed.”
Abdelmoua said U.N. personnel are “conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.”
Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said the fires have wiped out at least 10,000 hectares of forest, wiping out “hundreds of thousands of trees.”
“The magnitude of the fires cannot be described. When there is no wind, we suppress them and put them all out, but when the wind picks up again, the fires restart as if we have done nothing. The wind feeds the fire,” said a member of Syria’s “White Helmets” civil defense group.
“We regret and mourn every tree that burned, which was a source of fresh air for us,” he said.
Civil defense officials said 80 field units and 180 firefighting vehicles are spread across the northern countryside of Latakia, their numbers bolstered by civil defense teams and aircraft from neighboring Turkey and Jordan.
Lebanon dispatched two firefighting helicopters to assist the effort on Monday. Syrian Minister of Emergency Situations and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh thanked Lebanon for its assistance, saying it “embodies the depth of fraternal ties between Syria and Lebanon and reflects the importance of solidarity in the face of natural and environmental disasters.”
Firefighters are facing some formidable natural obstacles, including high temperatures, high winds, rough terrain, and the region’s usual summer drought, plus one decidedly unnatural complication: large quantities of unexploded munitions from the long and destructive Syrian civil war.
The Syrian emergency ministry said the “very difficult conditions” surrounding the fire include “the explosion of war remnants and mines.”
The civil war ended suddenly in December 2024, when dictator Bashar Assad was overthrown by a fast-moving rebel offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria. HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, promised to replace Assad with a more inclusive and relatively Western-friendly Islamist government.
U.N. officials looking for signs that Sharaa could deliver on his promises praised the interim government for its response to the wildfires and for making good use of assistance from Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.
“We commend the bravery of firefighters, the solidarity shown by neighboring countries, and the tireless efforts of Syrians and local communities who are helping their neighbors,” Deputy U.N. Envoy to Syria Najat Rochdi said on Monday.
The mountains and forests of Latakia produce a good deal of Syria’s food, including vegetables, meat, and eggs. The area is heavily populated by the Alawite minority, the unusual sect of Shia Islam that counted the Assad dynasty as members. The Alawites have long feared persecution under Syria’s new government because they were perceived as loyal to Assad.
Some Alawites suspect the fires were set deliberately by Sunni Muslim militants who are part of the HTS ruling coalition, in a bid to wipe out their community. Villagers in Latakia claim they have seen militia vehicles belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham engaged in deliberately setting fires near Alawite towns.
Latakia has an unfortunate history of arson. In 2021, the Assad regime executed 24 people who allegedly set fires in the forested region of Latakia and sentenced 11 others to life imprisonment with hard labor. The suspects were said to be part of an organized conspiracy to damage the Assad government by destroying vital infrastructure with coordinated arson attacks.
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