Türkiye sends assistance to Syria amid wildfires

LATAKIA

Türkiye, Jordan and the United Nations have dispatched to assistance to Syria as the country battled wildfires for the fifth day on July 7.

In a statement late on July 6, Syrian authorities said some 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest had "turned to ash" in wildfires.

Syrian emergency workers have faced tough conditions including high temperatures, strong winds, rugged mountainous terrain in the coastal province and the danger of explosive war remnants, in a country worn down by years of conflict and economic crisis.

Jordanian civil defense teams crossed into Syria after Türkiye sent assistance and aircraft a day earlier.

Minister Raed al-Saleh described "a real environmental disaster" at a press conference in the province.

Saleh said it would take days to declare the blazes completely extinguished once the fire was brought under control, calling them "catastrophic.”

Swathes of forested area and farmland have burnt and some villages evacuated as the fires raged including near the Turkish border.

The United Nations deputy envoy to Syria Najat Rochdi said in a statement on X that Damascus "needs more international assistance" to face the fires.

Nearly seven months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that ravaged the country's economy, infrastructure and public services.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation told AFP that Syria had "not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”