Major fire breaks out in Qobeiyat hills, Akkar

TRIPOLI — A major fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in the Jourit al-Shair area of the Qobeiyat hills in northern Lebanon's Akkar district, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North reported. The fire is one of many across Lebanon as the region is hit wit an intense heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring during an already volatile dry season.

High winds caused the flames' rapid spread, covering several kilometers of land and threatening a nearby nature reserve and an area of several kilometers. A Lebanese Army helicopter, Civil Defense firefighters and volunteers from the Tadbir association were all involved in battling the flames, with the aircraft using the nearby artificial lake of al-Qawashra to refill its tank.

Calls have been made to mobilize additional reinforcements from neighboring Civil Defense centers to speed up operations before nightfall. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Already large swathes of Lebanese forests and grasslands have succumbed to flame this season. On July 15, the Environment Ministry launched a $3.5 million risk management initiative aimed at reducing the number of forest fires in vulnerable areas.

In April, Greenpeace warned at the potential severity of the summer season's fires, seeing as before summer had even begun, fires were already breaking out across the country. The organization pointed to the fires as “an alarming sign of worsening climate change effects in the region.”

Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North, Michel Hallak.