New fires in Syria’s governorates of Daraa and Tartous
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday morning, new fires broke out in Syria’s governorates of Daraa and Tartous, after a number of fires occurred in the areas under the control of the Syrian government on Friday.
And local sources from Daraa reported that fires broke out in the town of Sheikh Saad in the northwestern countryside of Daraa, which is 25 km from the city center.
According to the sources, the wind speed made the fires extend to the western areas of the town, consuming dozens of olive and pomegranate trees, which belong to the farmers of the town of Sheikh Maskin.
Local residents believe that the fires are “contrived”, especially as they came after extinguishing fires broke out on Friday evening in the Safuqiya Valley in the Sahem al-Golan Valley in the western countryside of Daraa, which came hours after putting out fires that broke out in Suwayda, Tartous and Lattakia.
The official newspaper, Tishreen, stated that the fire in Safuqiya Valley continued for about three and a half hours, during which it affected dense grass and cane trees, until the firefighting teams managed to extinguish it.
In the same context, a fire broke out in the town of As-Soda in the countryside of Tartous on Saturday morning, and firefighting teams were able to extinguish it.
Seven fires broke out in different areas in Tartous on Friday, namely, Safita the western neighborhood, Sheikh Saad, Thiyada village of al- Hamidiyah, Arzuna, al-Tulayi, Kfr Shagher in the city of Draykish, and al-Safliya village of Sheikh Badr.
The civil defense in the province of Suwayda was able to put out two fires, the first was east of Hobran Road and affected oak trees, and the second was Khassab fire in the vicinity of the Thaala roundabout.
This coincided with the outbreak of a fire in the village of al-Rastin, which belongs to the town of al-Bahlouliyah in Latakia countryside, and all of them were controlled, according to the newspaper.
Fires broke out on the tenth of this month in the governorates of Latakia, Tartus, Homs and Hama, and led to the displacement of thousands of civilians.
On October 12, the United Nations announced that three people were killed and 79 others were injured, in addition to the displacement of about 25,000 people due to the fires.
The burned area at that time was 8,900 hectares of fruit trees and 5,500 hectares of forest trees, in addition to 2.1 million fruitful trees being damaged, according to what the Syrian Minister of Agriculture Muhammad Hassan Qatna told official media.