Lebanon asked for international help after it struggled to contain forest fires that have spread across the country since Monday.
The death of a volunteer assisting firefighters has raised questions about the state’s lack of preparedness despite regularly experiencing fires at this time of year.
High winds and a rise in temperatures exacerbated forest fires that were particularly devastating in the Chouf region, a mountain area south-east of Beirut. which is famous for its cedars and reserves.
Videos on social media showed flames threatening villages under an orange sky and the charred remains of pine forests.
Lebanese media reported that a young man, Salim Abou Mujahed, died of a heart attack while trying to help civil defence units extinguish the fires.
Four houses burnt to the ground in the Meshref area while flames reached the balconies of surrounding houses after residents fled, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported
Several shops along a motorway outside Beirut were destroyed.
A garage owner lost 11 cars in the blaze and police brought in water cannon used for crowd control to assist.
Large areas of land and olive trees were burnt in the Akkar region in northern Lebanon, with flames close to mobile-phone towers.
Yesterday there were 103 fires burning over Lebanon, said the director of civil defence, Brig Gen Raymond Khattar. Five volunteer firefighters were injured.
Temperatures soared in Lebanon over the past few days, often exceeding 30°C, which is “three or four degrees higher than they have been over the past 150 years”, said Nadim Farajalla, of the American University of Beirut.
The intensity of the fires and the country’s lack of ability to fight them shocked Lebanon.
President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Justice Minister Albert Serhan called for an investigation into the cause of the blazes.
Mr Hariri said that if the fires were started intentionally, those responsible “will pay a price”.
Natural forest fires are normal in Lebanon but many are either the result of arson or caused by negligent farmers clearing their land, said George Mitri, director of land and natural resources at the University of Balamand.
In 2009, three Sikorsky S-70 firefighting helicopters were donated to the government but fell into disrepair, causing outrage.
“It’s very unfortunate that these three helicopters have not participated in the firefighting,” said Ziad Baroud, who was interior minister at the time they were bought.
The Lebanese government did not “pay a penny” for the helicopters, which can carry 4,000 litres of water each, Mr Baroud said.
Businesspeople, the Association of Lebanese Banks and even university students provided $13.9 million (Dh51m) for their purchase.
But the state had to pay $450,000 a year for their upkeep, “which is nothing compared with the costs caused by a fire and losses in green areas and properties”, Mr Baroud said.
The total cost of damage caused by the latest fires has yet to be established.
It remains unclear when the helicopters were grounded, although Mr Baroud said they were “used in no less than 11 firefighting operations between 2009 and 2012”.
A spokeswoman for Interior Minister Raya El Hassan told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star that "there is no money in the Treasury – there is no money to do maintenance".
The country is facing a financial crisis.
Yesterday, Mr Aoun called for an investigation to determine who was responsible for the Sikorsky aircraft “not working in years, as well as the quick inspection of the three aircraft and speeding up the provision of spare parts”.
The Lebanese army stepped in with four helicopters to help civil defence units.
But they struggled to contain the fires because of “heavy smoke and high-tension transmission lines that sometimes blocked rapid and effective intervention”, the army said yesterday.
Its helicopters can carry 700 litres of water, which is not enough to extinguish major blazes, Mr Mitri said.
Cyprus and Greece responded to Mrs El Hassan’s call for help from neighbouring countries, sending helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and firefighting equipment.
The Progressive Socialist Party, which has strong support in the Chouf region, also announced that Jordan would send a helicopter.
Environment Minister Fadi Jreissati tried to calm tension yesterday as he inspected damage caused by fires in the region.
“Today is not the time for denunciation but to secure money to buy equipment for the civil defence," Mr Jreissati said.
He announced that representatives from the army and his ministry would travel to Spain to buy two firefighting helicopters.
“Sikorsky aircraft are not technically appropriate to intervene,” Mr Jreissati said.
The last time Lebanon suffered such ferocious forest fires was in 2007, when the situation was so bad it pushed the government to develop a national strategy for fire management, Mr Mitri said.
It was never carried out.
“They do not consider it as a priority and that’s a problem," Mr Mitri said. "Fires are increasing for different reasons, such as lack of maintenance or people abandoning their agricultural lands."
Lebanon’s civil defence teams have only 200 fire engines, which are not enough to tackle the latest fires.
The situation was expected to be brought under control by today as weather improves, but what Lebanon really needed was better prevention, Mr Mitri said.
“I hope that the government will look into what happened these past two days very seriously and start thinking of how to prevent fires next season and not wait until then," he said.
“Lebanon lacks a management plan. There are no inventories of our forests and no harvesting plans. Conditions are very bad."
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
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The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Brief scores:
Juventus 3
Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'
Frosinone 0
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
The biog:
Favourite book: The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
Pet Peeve: Racism
Proudest moment: Graduating from Sorbonne
What puts her off: Dishonesty in all its forms
Happiest period in her life: The beginning of her 30s
Favourite movie: "I have two. The Pursuit of Happiness and Homeless to Harvard"
Role model: Everyone. A child can be my role model
Slogan: The queen of peace, love and positive energy
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
Tips on buying property during a pandemic
Islay Robinson, group chief executive of mortgage broker Enness Global, offers his advice on buying property in today's market.
While many have been quick to call a market collapse, this simply isn’t what we’re seeing on the ground. Many pockets of the global property market, including London and the UAE, continue to be compelling locations to invest in real estate.
While an air of uncertainty remains, the outlook is far better than anyone could have predicted. However, it is still important to consider the wider threat posed by Covid-19 when buying bricks and mortar.
Anything with outside space, gardens and private entrances is a must and these property features will see your investment keep its value should the pandemic drag on. In contrast, flats and particularly high-rise developments are falling in popularity and investors should avoid them at all costs.
Attractive investment property can be hard to find amid strong demand and heightened buyer activity. When you do find one, be prepared to move hard and fast to secure it. If you have your finances in order, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Lenders continue to lend and rates remain at an all-time low, so utilise this. There is no point in tying up cash when you can keep this liquidity to maximise other opportunities.
Keep your head and, as always when investing, take the long-term view. External factors such as coronavirus or Brexit will present challenges in the short-term, but the long-term outlook remains strong.
Finally, keep an eye on your currency. Whenever currency fluctuations favour foreign buyers, you can bet that demand will increase, as they act to secure what is essentially a discounted property.
The biog
Age: 19
Profession: medical student at UAE university
Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)
Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand
(Saturday, 12pm UAE)
Wales v South Africa
(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)
LUKA CHUPPI
Director: Laxman Utekar
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Cinema
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurana
Rating: 3/5
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
