Darb Akkar volunteers head to put out fire in Syria for first time

BEIRUT — Four volunteers from the Darb Akkar environmental protection association traveled to Syria Thursday to participate in firefighting operations, according to our correspondent in the North.

The head of the association, Ali Taleb, and our correspondent in the North told L'Orient Today that this is the first time this association has operated outside of Lebanon.

According to Taleb, the volunteers reached Jabal Turkman, adding that the fire in this region is still "huge."

Forest fires in the coastal province of Latakia have been raging for eight days. However, on Thursday, Syrian authorities said that they had brought the fires under "near-total" control, except in two locations in the Jabal Turkman area.

According to Taleb, before the fires in Syria, the Syrian Civil Defense reached out to the association and requested a long-term exchange of expertise following the fires in Qobeiyat (Akkar) in late June.

Around 10 days ago, more than 20 hectares of land went up in smoke on the mountains of Qobeiyat in a major fire that broke out in the region.

Taleb added that the volunteers went to Syria using one member's private car, as the association's two pick-ups were out of service and currently lacked the necessary funds to replace them. He said that despite this, the association's members decided to go and use their expertise to try to help extinguish the fires in Syria.

"This is a symbolic participation for a cooperation that can be built over the days and years to come," he said.

As of Tuesday, the fires in Syria had already devastated approximately 100 km² of wooded areas, according to the U.N. Firefighting teams from Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon had joined their Syrian counterparts.