Khattar Assures New Blazes Under Control

Civil Defense Director General Raymond Khattar on Wednesday said new “limited” blazes were reported in several Lebanese regions and that efforts are underway to extinguish them.

“In cooperation with the Lebanese army, efforts are underway to extinguish new limited wildfires that erupted in Kfarmata, Daqoun, Kornet al-Hamra, al-Zireh, al-Mtayleb, Baawarta and Mazraat al-Dahr,” said Khattar to LBCI TV station.

He stressed that the situation is under control.

Wildfires that spread across vast areas of Lebanon started to subside Tuesday evening with the fall of rain, amid strenuous efforts by the Civil Defense and firefighters and volunteers from across the country.

By 7:00 pm, blazes were still raging in Chouf's al-Dibbiyeh and Dmit and Aley's Kfarmatta as rain contributed to containing the flames in ِAley's Baawarta and south Lebanon.

A major fire that had been raging since Monday night in the Chouf area of Mechref was put out earlier in the day with the help of UNIFIL forces. UNIFIL peacekeepers, vehicles and firefighting vehicles later moved to Mazraat al-Dahr and al-Dibbiyeh to contribute to firefighting efforts there.

New fires were meanwhile reported in the evening in the northern Metn area of Mazraat Yachouh and the Keserwan area of Ghazir.

The wildfires forced some residents to flee their homes in the middle of the night on Monday, while others were stuck inside as the flames reached villages south of Beirut, especially in the Chouf and Aley regions.

A heat wave in the region coupled with strong winds intensified the fires that began a day earlier in mostly pine forests around the country and three provinces in neighboring Syria. A man died of a heart attack after taking part in the firefighting efforts in Chouf as several injuries were reported.