Syrian Civil Defense announces control over most Latakia fires, continues cooling and monitoring operations

The Syrian Civil Defense announced the success of its teams in controlling most of the forest fires that broke out in the Latakia province ten days ago, while continuing to cool the remaining hotspots to prevent their re-ignition.

In a Facebook post, the Civil Defense confirmed that "with the halt of the fires' spread and the control of fire hotspots on all fronts yesterday (...) teams on the ground continue comprehensive cooling operations for all sites that witnessed fire outbreaks, in addition to monitoring and surveillance of locations in case of fire resurgence".

Meanwhile, Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh stated on the "X" platform that local and international teams succeeded in stopping the fire spread, paving the way for complete control. He tweeted:"After great and continuous efforts by the firefighting teams of the Civil Defense, firefighting brigades, and Turkish and Arab supporting teams in extinguishing the forest fires in Latakia, the situation reached a promising stage on Saturday evening, as teams managed to stop the fire spread on all fronts, a crucial step towards controlling the fires".

Al-Saleh added: "The scene is changing, the smoke is starting to dissipate, and teams are intensively continuing to extinguish the remaining active hotspots and cool the extinguished areas. According to current data, the situation is heading towards control and then transitioning to comprehensive cooling operations".

The working teams faced difficult conditions, including strong winds that exacerbated the fire spread, in addition to the presence of mines and war remnants in the area, posing a danger to the personnel. Nevertheless, the teams managed to establish effective fire lines preventing the flames from reaching the Firlaq forests and villages, which were threatened during the past two days.

The fires erupted concurrently with a severe heatwave hitting the region since the beginning of July 2025, consuming approximately 100 square kilometers of forests and agricultural lands, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office in Syria.

Heavy engineering machinery is still working to open roads inside the forests to facilitate team access, while firefighting and monitoring operations continue to prevent fire resurgence in the affected areas.