Syrian Minister of Emergency: We Requested Support from the European Union and the Arrival of Firefighting Aircraft from Cyprus

Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, Raed Al-Saleh, announced that the Syrian government continues to communicate with the European Union to request support in facing the ongoing fires in the countryside of Latakia for six days, indicating that Cypriot firefighting aircraft will join the suppression operations today.

Al-Saleh emphasized in a special statement to the Syrian News Channel that "strong winds caused the fires to expand last night to the village of Al-Ghassaniyah (Falk) in northern Latakia," explaining that the civil defense teams succeeded in evacuating women and children, and the efforts of the village youth supported the operations, as they worked "hand in hand with the specialized teams."

He also mentioned enhancing joint work with neighboring countries, where Turkish, Jordanian, and Lebanese teams and aircraft are participating alongside the Syrian aviation, noting that "16 aircraft participated in firefighting yesterday, and the number is expected to reach 20 aircraft today."

The minister confirmed that the top priority is to protect lives, pointing out that no human losses have been recorded so far despite the fires spreading to several areas, but he mentioned that "10 civil defense members were injured, most of them due to suffocation."

Al-Saleh attributed the exacerbation of the fires to "weather conditions, the absence of fire lines in the mountains, the accumulation of dry wood, in addition to the explosion of war remnants," considering these obstacles make it difficult to fully control the fire.

It is worth mentioning that the fires broke out in northern Latakia countryside since the third of this month, and today they spread to the area of Sheikh Hassan in the Kasab district, while local and international teams continue their efforts to contain the situation.