Russian Airforce was seen taking part in dousing the fire in Syria’s Latakia region on Thursday. Russia’s IL-76 firefighting plane was spotted assisting in putting out the rapidly growing wildfires in the Syrian region.
Various videos of Russian planes flying over the region in assisting wildfires emerged online.
The majority of the fires, which were fought by several fire companies in the Latakia province in Syria’s northwest during a heatwave, were declared under control on Wednesday, according to the country’s authorities.
Latakia’s governor, Amer Ismail Hilal, claims that firemen have been battling fresh fires in the region for two days as flames have consumed vast tracts of agricultural and forest land.
Due to the challenging topography in the area and the difficulty in accessing particular locations because of the widespread fires, firefighter teams used water and isolation techniques to put out the fires after working tirelessly for many hours.
About 70% of the regional fires, according to the Latakia Civil Defense Commander, were under control, he added, noting that the fires erupted at random in places that weren’t connected to one another.
The latest flames in Latakia began on Tuesday in a forested area; powerful winds and the steep terrain’s difficulty in being reached both contributed to the fire’s quick spread.
The Latakia director of agriculture and agrarian reform, Bassem Douba, stated that a preliminary estimate showed that more than 5,000 dunums (5 square kilometers) were completely destroyed.
The cause of the fires is being looked into, according to the authorities, and a final assessment of the damage is being made.
