Syria’s coastal province of Latakia has been battling severe wildfires since 3 July, with flames spreading across the mountainous districts of Qastal Maaf, Bayirbucak and Jabal Turkman. Emergency and Disaster-Management Minister Raed al-Saleh said on 6 July that roughly 10,000 hectares of forest and farmland—covering 28 separate hotspots—have been reduced to ash, destroying hundreds of thousands of trees and forcing the evacuation of more than 20 nearby towns and villages.
Roughly 80 Syrian Civil Defence and forestry teams have been mobilised, but steep terrain, strong winds, drought-parched vegetation and explosions from unexploded war ordnance have hampered their progress. One volunteer was treated for smoke inhalation and a service vehicle burned, according to civil-defence officials. Power outages were reported after a substation in the Basit area went offline.
Neighbouring Turkey dispatched two water-bombing aircraft, two helicopters and 11 fire-fighting vehicles, which began operating over the border on 5 July. Jordanian helicopters and specialist ground crews crossed into Syria early on 6 July, after Damascus and Amman set up a joint field operations room. Al-Saleh said further reinforcements from both countries are expected as regional authorities coordinate to prevent the fires from reaching additional populated areas.
The blazes coincide with record heat and drought across the eastern Mediterranean, conditions that have also ignited fires inside Turkey. Syrian officials warn that prolonged high temperatures could trigger new flare-ups even after the current fronts are contained, underscoring the growing climate-related threat to the region’s remaining forest cover.
