LATAKIA, Syria (AP) 鈥 United Nations teams have deployed Sunday to the Syrian coast, where firefighters are battling wildfires for a fourth day.
U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria Adam Abdelmoula said in a statement that the fast-spreading blazes in the northwestern province of Latakia 鈥渉ave forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, while vast tracts of agricultural land and vital infrastructure have been destroyed.鈥
U.N. teams are 鈥渃onducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs,鈥 he said.
Firefighting teams from Turkey and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters. Syria鈥檚 state-run SANA news agency reported that emergency crews are attempting to prevent the blazes from reaching the al-Frunloq natural reserve, with its 鈥渓arge, interconnected forests.鈥
Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh called the situation 鈥渆xtremely tragic.鈥
In a statement posted on X, he said the fires had destroyed 鈥渉undreds of thousands of trees鈥 covering an area estimated at 10,000 hectares.
鈥淲e regret and mourn every tree that burned, which was a source of fresh air for us,鈥 al-Saleh said.
The Syrian Civil Defense had expressed concerns over the presence of unexploded ordnance left over from the country鈥檚 nearly 14-year civil war in some of the wildfire areas.
Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.
Below-average rainfalls over the winter have also left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.
