In Syria, fires “devour forests,” aggravated by “remnants of war”
For several days, the country's coastline has been ravaged by flames. This is due to exceptional weather conditions, but also to a dire lack of resources after fourteen years of war.
Since the beginning of July, western Syria has been in the grip of massive fires. “A painful event, of national proportions, which is draining the country’s material and human resources,” writes the Syrian daily Al-Hurriyah . According to a July 7 report by the Syrian Organization for Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD), relayed by the Syrian media Enab Baladi , more than 100 square kilometers of forest (10,000 hectares) have gone up in smoke, representing 3% of the country’s forest resources. The fires have not yet caused any casualties, but they have killed numerous animals, damaged power lines, and led the authorities to displace more than 1,000 people and close major roads.
In the affected areas, the sky is "light brown, almost orange, the air is heavy, and a burning smell is felt with every breath," even in places far from the fires, Syrian journalists told the Daraj website . Smoke from the fires has even reached the regions of Idlib, further north, and Hama, to the east.
These fires are the result of a combination of unfavorable factors: very high temperatures, violent winds, dried-out trees and vegetation, and steep terrain favoring the
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