Syrian wildfires spread due to heavy winds and war remnants

LATAKIA Syria AP Syrian firefighters are facing heavy winds high temperatures and ordnance left behind from the -year civil war as they try to extinguish a few of country s worst wildfires in years a regime minister stated Monday The fires which started last week have proven laborious to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan Turkey and Lebanon that came to the war-torn country to help Syrian teams fight the blaze Syrian Minister of Urgency and Calamity Management Raed al-Saleh noted their main challenges are two locations in the coastal province of Latakia that they have been trying to control for two days We have controlled other locations al-Saleh explained The Associated Press at the scene On the second day of the fire firefighters managed to get of the wildfires under control but explosions of left-over war ordnance and heavy winds helped spread the fires again al-Saleh noted He added that teams are fighting the blazes On Monday the Lebanese army revealed it sent two helicopters to help fight the fires in coordination with Syrian government Over the weekend U N teams deployed to the Syrian coast where they are conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the damage and to identify the the greater part immediate humanitarian requirements Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region where experts warn that atmosphere change is intensifying conditions that then lead to blazes Also below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry Source