Forest fires in Syria and neighbouring Lebanon have killed three people and burned swathes of land since Thursday, state media and officials said.

Syrian state television on Saturday morning broadcast scenes from the affected areas, where firefighters were working to extinguish the blazes.

It said hundreds of hectares had burned in the countryside of Syria's coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces, and in the central Homs province.

The health ministry said three people had died in Latakia province since Friday as a result of the fires, and that 70 people were taken to hospital suffering breathing difficulties.

Dozens of fires were burning, including "45 in Latakia and 33 in Tartus", Syria's Agriculture Minister Mohammed Hassan Qatana told a radio station late Friday.

The Latakia fire brigade said they were "facing the largest series of fires seen in Latakia province in years".

Official news agency SANA said fire burned homes in Banias, in Tartus province.

In neighbouring Lebanon, there have been more than 100 fires across the country since Thursday, according to George Abu Musa, head of operations for the country's civil defence.

"The situation is crazy, there are fires everywhere," Abu Musa told AFP.

"We have mobilised 80 percent of our personnel and almost all our centres in Lebanon," he said.

He said most of the blazes had been extinguished but some were still burning in the mountainous Chouf region in the south, and in Akkar in the north.

Military helicopters were assisting firefighters in "hard-to-reach" areas, he added.

Abu Musa was unable to identify the cause of the blazes, but said wind and high temperatures were helping them spread.

On Friday, authorities reported several fires across northern and central Israel and the occupied West Bank as temperatures soared, forcing thousands to evacuate.

Dozens of fires hit Lebanon in mid-October last year, amid unusually high temperatures and strong winds.

The government faced heavy criticism and accusations of ill-preparedness over its response to the 2019 blazes.

Days after Lebanon's 2019 fires, mass protests broke out, triggered by proposed tax hikes but quickly transforming into months-long demonstrations against the ruling class, deemed by protesters as inept and corrupt.

Israelis flee fires as heatwave hits
Jerusalem (AFP) Oct 9, 2020 - Several fires spread across northern and central Israel and the occupied West Bank as temperatures soared on Friday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, authorities said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties but police said in a statement that seven homes were damaged in the northern town of Nof Hagalil and 5,000 residents evacuated.

Several homes were also evacuated near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Oranim in the occupied West Bank, the statement added.

Roads were closed and police urged people to be vigilant, as the army helped firefighters to contain the blazes.

"After the outbreak of several fires across Israel amid a heatwave, our troops are working together with Israeli firefighters & @israelpolice to put them out and evacuate civilian communities in immediate danger," the army said in a tweet.

The fires came days after the European Union's Earth Observation Programme said that last month was the warmest September on record globally.

It cited new high temperatures in Israel and neighbouring Jordan.

Dozens of fires broke out across the Jewish state during summer last year as record temperatures fuelled wildfires.

And in 2016, blazes damaged or destroyed around 700 homes in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and sent more than 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of woodland up in smoke.

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

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