ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Fire fighters are making progress battling wildfires in Syria’s coastal areas, but hazards like landmines and rugged terrain are making it difficult.
“Fire department and civil defense teams have managed to put out 80% of fires in the Kasab areas within the northern parts of Latakia,” Abdulkafi Kiyal, head of Civil Defense brigades in Latakia, told the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency on Saturday.
The devastating wildfires have been burning for nearly a week. Similar blazes raged through the western provinces early last month.
Raed al-Saleh, minister of Emergencies and Disaster Management, visited Latakia on Friday.
“The existence of mines in Kasab makes the efforts to put out fires more difficult as they go off while emergency teams try to put the fires out,” he said in a video posted on X. “Another problem our teams face is isolation of fires due to the rugged terrain in the mountains.”
In areas such as al-Haydariyah, inland in Hama province, local residents successfully fought to put out fires as they spread without assistance from civil defense teams or aerial support, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Friday.
The fires have forced families to flee their homes and have caused damage to personal and public properties, according to SOHR.
The White Helmets, a civil defense organization, said on Saturday that they are trying to prevent the flames from spreading.
"The presence of hotspots and the potential for re-ignition in several locations that have been put out, caused by strong winds."
The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) has sent firefighting teams to the coast, Hawar News Agency reported on Friday.
