As if the Californian wildfires and the Australian bushfires were not enough to destroy the world, there is another wildfire. However, this time in a different part of the world. This time it is in the middle east. These wildfires were triggered by a heatwave that hit the region. Heatwaves during this time of the year are pretty uncommon in the area. These wildfires have already killed 3 people and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Surely there are similarities between the two wildfires. People were also forced to denote landmines along the Lebanon-Israel border. This information was given by the state officials as well as the media this Saturday.
The areas that were hit by the heatwave were Syria, Isreal, Lebanon and Palestine territories. The heatwave caused fires which, which is pretty unusual in the area. Strangely, during this time of the year. The wildfires have spread throughout the different areas of Israel, and West bank. On the second day of the wildfires— Saturday, forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. According to the Israeli police and firefighters, 5,000 residents were forced to evacuate. This happened in the city of Nof Hagalil situated in Northern Israel.
Hardest Wildfire Hit Country
The hardest country that was hit with these wildfires was the warn-torn country Syria. This is the country where the wildfires have killed three people. The wildfires have also left hundreds of people with breathing problems. All of this within the past two days. The wildfires have also burnt large areas of the forest. The forest area that was burnt was in the central province of Homs and the coastal province of Latakia.
Firefighters were overwhelmed by the wildfires. Because of this some of the residents helped them with extinguishing the fires. They helped them with carrying buckets of water and pouring it on fire. On Saturday, the 17th October 2020 special rain prayers were held in mosques. The prayers were held in different parts of Syria, they were imploring God to send rains to ease the drought and stop fires.
Director of the Forestry department in Latakia in the Agricultural department, Bassem Douba, was quoted as saying by state news agency, SANA, that the number of fires reached 85 in different cities.
In Latakia province, President Bashar Assad’s hometown of Qardaha was heavily damaged. A building which was used for storage by the state-owned tobacco company also collapsed. However, in Lebanon, firefighters were back up by helicopters. These helicopters fought the fires in countries north, center and south. Due to these, an enormous fire which was about to hit the forest was put down under control. The fire if reached the forest would burn down hundreds of pine trees.
Along the borders of Isreal and Lebanon, the fires were reported by Lebanon state. The Lebanon state’s news agency surveyed in several villages. Some of them triggering the explosions of landmines placed along the heavily guarded border between the two middle eastern countries of Lebanon and Syria.
