Firefighters brought under control yesterday, Wednesday, a giant fire that broke out the day before in Lebanon's largest pine forest, country where a deep economic crisis has drastically reduced the capacity of the state apparatus to deal with disasters of this kind.
Army helicopters, volunteers and firefighters have been trying since Tuesday night to put out the flames in the Diniya (north) region.
After several hours of efforts in very difficult conditions[/B], the fire "has been brought under control, but the affected area remains under surveillance to prevent a new fire", Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who went to the area, told Agence France-Presse.
"We will go on foot into the forest () to make sure the fire is completely under control," explained Hamad Hamdan, a member of the Civil Protection.
The environment minister did not rule out the possibility that the fire was due to a "deliberate" act - that it was arson.
A local official spoke of a proliferation of cases of unauthorised logging in the forest in recent years.
Lebanon is suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis, which is paralysing the capacity of the state apparatus to extinguish fires, which have proliferated in recent years, particularly due to climate change.
The fires are causing outrage among environmentalists, who warn against the risk of destroying what remains of the small Middle Eastern country's natural treasures.
In July 2021, it was several 24 hours before fires that swept through pine forests in the north, causing one death and displacing residents, were brought under control.
In the fall of 2019, Lebanon was tested by devastating forest fires south of the capital.
Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets a few weeks later, joining a movement of defiance with the central demand that the political elite, which they accused of corruption and incompetence, should go.
Source: APE
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