Syria has been scarred by six days of wildfires that have scorched more than 14,000 hectares — land roughly the size of Washington, D.C.
The blazes have been centered in the mountainous Latakia region along the Mediterranean coast, where dense forests have been left tinder-dry by months of heat and insufficient rain. Meteorologists and aid organizations describe this year’s drought as the worst to hit Syria in decades.
Thousands of Syrians have been affected by the blazes, and hundreds of families have fled their homes, according to the United Nations. The growing crisis has proved to be the latest test for Syria’s new leadership as it works to stabilize an embattled nation still reeling from a bloody 13-year civil war.
Syria’s civil defense force, known as the White Helmets, once pulled survivors from the rubble after bombardments in rebel-held areas by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Now, it is leading efforts to contain the wildfires’ spread.
But after years of crippling Western sanctions against the Assad regime and institutional decay, emergency crews are hampered by depleted resources. Shortages of diesel fuel and spare parts for fire trucks have hindered firefighting efforts, while crews must navigate rugged terrain still littered with unexploded ordnance left from the war.
The coastal region, long seen as an Assad loyalist stronghold and home to much of Syria’s Alawite minority, has grown increasingly unstable. In March, it was the site of mass sectarian killings that left about 1,600 people, most of them Alawites, dead.
The wildfires now sweeping through the region have added another layer of devastation, exposing the enduring fragility of a nation still struggling to recover.
Euan Ward is a reporter contributing to The Times from Beirut.
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