Syria Seeks EU Assistance as Wildfires Devastate Forests, Displace Thousands

By Dler Mohammed

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Syria’s emergency response minister appealed Tuesday to the European Union for assistance in battling massive wildfires that have raged across the country’s forested northwest for six consecutive days, threatening lives, livelihoods, and vital ecosystems, according to AFP.

Raed al-Saleh, Syria’s Minister of Emergencies and Disaster Management, said the ongoing fires—fueled by strong winds and extreme drought—have overwhelmed the country’s limited resources. “We asked the European Union for help in extinguishing the fires,” he said in a post on X, noting that Cyprus was expected to send aid on Tuesday.

So far, neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey have already dispatched firefighting teams to help contain the blazes. The situation remains precarious, particularly after strong winds on Monday night forced emergency crews to evacuate 25 families to safety. “Fortunately, there have been no human casualties,” Saleh added.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Syria reported that the fires have impacted nearly 5,000 people across 60 communities, including through displacement. At least seven towns in Syria’s Latakia province have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

OCHA estimates that approximately 100 square kilometers (around 40 square miles) of forest and farmland—over 3 percent of Syria’s total forest cover—have already been destroyed by the wildfires. The devastation is likely to further impact rural livelihoods and biodiversity in a country already grappling with the legacies of conflict and climate stress.

Saleh said firefighting efforts have been severely hampered by a combination of rugged terrain, the lack of effective firebreaks, strong winds, and the lingering danger of landmines and unexploded ordnance—a grim legacy of Syria’s 14-year civil war and the recent fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The worsening situation reflects a broader pattern of climate-driven crises across the region. In June, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that Syria was experiencing its harshest climate conditions in six decades, marked by prolonged heatwaves and exceptionally low rainfall.

Experts say man-made climate change is fueling the frequency and severity of wildfires around the world, particularly in vulnerable and war-torn nations like Syria. As the country faces overlapping challenges of environmental degradation, post-conflict recovery, and resource scarcity, international aid may prove critical in averting further disaster.