Forest fires "totally under control" in Syria and Lebanon
Firefighters finish putting out a blaze in Safita, Syria.
SANA / Handout via REUTERS
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The forest fires which have affected regions of Lebanon and Syria in recent days, where they have killed three people, have been completely controlled, the Syrian authorities and the Lebanese civil defense said on Sunday.
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Fanned by high temperatures, dozens of fires broke out
in Syria on Friday
, particularly in the regions of Homs (center), Tartous and Lattaquié (west), where three people died according to the Ministry of Health.
Several families had to flee residential areas near the fires, according to local media.
"
Civil defense teams, supported by army units and the population, have controlled all the fires in the province
" of Latakia, said its governor, Ibrahim Khader Al-Salem on Sunday, quoted by the official agency. Sana.
Firefighters are however still on the ground to work "
to cool the burned sites
", he said.
According to Sana, all the fires in the province of Tartous were also tamed as well as the one which broke out in the forest site of Korb Ali, in the western suburbs of Homs.
In Lebanon, a hundred forest fires that have been raging since Thursday have also been "
completely under control
", a civil defense source told AFP.
"
We managed to tame the last flames in Chouf
[south-east]
and Akkar
[north]," two heavily impacted regions, she added.
No official estimate of the damage caused and the areas devoured by the fires has yet been communicated in Lebanon or Syria.
The main extinct foci in Israel
Several fires have also broken out
in recent days in Israel
, neighboring Syria and Lebanon, leading to the evacuation of thousands of people according to the authorities.
However, they were all brought under control overnight from Friday to Saturday, according to firefighters.
"
After more than 30 hours of fighting the fire, we have mastered the main outbreaks,
" they said in a statement on Saturday morning.
(With AFP)
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Lebanon and Syria ravaged by huge forest fires