A serious battle is underway by firefighters to stop intense wildfires ravaging their way across five Arab countries, torching vast forests and farmlands, and causing frantic evacuations.
Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Morocco and Algeria are currently battling major fires as the regions of West Asia and North Africa are hit with extreme hot weather.
In Iraq, a massive fire erupted on Sunday evening in the forests of Halabja province in the country’s northern Kurdish region, destroying hundreds of hectares of land and causing severe damage to grasslands and pastures in six villages, local media reported.
The blaze killed dozens of animals and birds and forced local livestock breeders to abandon their areas amid a desperate effort to contain the flames, reports said.
The fire started near three villages in a mountainous area of Halabja and spread into six others.
Halabja Civil Defense Director Brig. Gen. Abedin Abdulrahman said the fires “burned large forest areas, as strong winds hindered firefighting efforts despite the arrival of reinforcements.”
He added the blaze destroyed more than 5,000 dunams (about 1,235 acres) of forests and orchards, and devastated farms in six villages, in addition to killing two residents of the province.
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“After major efforts, the fire has been brought under control,” Abdulrahman said. “We are monitoring the area closely to prevent similar incidents from recurring.”
Halabja Governor Nukhsha Nasih confirmed in a Wednesday press conference that the fire damaged about 5,000 dunams of farmland.
She attributed the delay in containing the blaze to a lack of proper firefighting equipment, the region’s geography and harsh climate.
Lebanon’s Civil Defence said today that its crews responded to 102 incidents in the past 24 hours, including 74 wildfires that spread across grasslands, forests, fruit trees, homes, and garbage dumps, the state-run news agency NNA reported.
In Syria, the Civil Defence said on Tuesday it extinguished a forest fire in Kart near Salma town in northern Latakia province.
It said firefighting teams worked to put out the blaze and prevent it from spreading despite strong winds and difficult terrain, adding they were monitoring the area to prevent the fire from reigniting.
Local media reported that civil defence teams put out 10 wildfires in four provinces last week amid rising temperatures.
As summer began, several provinces – especially Latakia – saw wildfires fuelled by high temperatures, dense forests, strong winds and drought conditions.
In July, wildfires raged for 12 days in Latakia’s mountains, destroying more than 16,000 hectares of forests, including 2,200 hectares of farmland, and damaging 45 villages. About 1,200 families were affected, according to official estimates.
North Africa
Algeria’s Civil Defence said on Wednesday that 18 wildfires had broken out in forests and woods across several provinces, including seven in Bejaia in the east. Ten were extinguished, four were still burning, and four others were under surveillance, the local An-Nahar newspaper reported.
The Civil Protection Department said in a statement on Tuesday that its units intervened with ground and aerial support in several fire zones in Bejaia, including one in the forests of Tawrirt Aghil in Adkar district.
The Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the army has deployed several aircraft to support firefighting efforts in the same area.
Algeria has faced recurring wildfires in recent weeks, especially in the central and eastern regions, though they have been less severe than the deadly blazes of 2021, 2022 and 2023 that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.
Authorities allocated a fleet of 15 firefighting planes, helicopters and ground equipment, and banned camping and barbecues in forests until October to reduce fire risks.
In Morocco, a wildfire broke out Monday in a forest in Taounate province in the north, coinciding with soaring temperatures.
An official with the National Agency for Water and Forests, who asked not to be named, said the fire started in the forests of Douar al-Ghararsa in Taounate.
Moroccan channel 2M reported the flames spread into farmland in Douar Beni Qara, also in Taounate, but no casualties were recorded.
It said firefighting teams, local authorities, volunteers and gendarmes worked together to put out the fire.
On Saturday, the same agency warned residents near forests in several northern and eastern provinces of possible wildfires from Sunday to Wednesday, with temperatures expected to reach 46 celsius (114 Fahrenheit).
Moroccan authorities said it has recorded 382 wildfires in 2024 that burned about 874 hectares of forests – an 82% drop compared with 2023.
Forests cover about 12% of Morocco, which experiences wildfires of varying intensity every summer, driven by weather conditions and human activity.
Wildfires frequently erupt worldwide during the summer months, and this year several Arab countries have been affected.
