The Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced in a press release on Thursday the arrest of four Syrian nationals suspected of causing a major forest fire in the Metn region last October. When questioned, the suspects confessed that they were “cutting and loading wood in the Nabay forest [below Beit Misk] without a permit, and that they had started the fire to prepare coffee.” They said they had no intention of starting a fire.

The ISF refer to a fire that began “on Oct. 28.” However, according to Civil Defense spokesman Elie Khairallah, this is probably the same fire that began ravaging the Metn Valley on Oct. 22, from Rabweh to Jouret al-Ballout. The fire had posed great difficulties for firefighters in extinguishing it, due to the rugged nature of the terrain.

The four suspects were arrested on Nov. 20, following investigations by the Jdeideh judicial police, add the FSI, who seized “two wood saws in their possession.”