Hamas official says ‘necessary to reach a ceasefire’ in Gaza

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities said some 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest had “turned to ash” in wildfires as firefighters from neighboring Jordan arrived Sunday to battle a fourth day of blazes in the province of Latakia.

Syrian emergency workers have faced tough conditions including high temperatures, strong winds, rugged mountainous terrain in the coastal province and the danger of explosive war remnants, in a country worn down by years of conflict and economic crisis.

An AFP correspondent in Latakia’s Rabiaa region saw emergency workers battling a blaze near homes, while vast swathes of forest and olive groves were burnt and smoke filled the air over a long distance.

Jordanian civil defense teams crossed into Syria on Sunday morning, the Syrian ministry for emergencies and disaster management said, after Turkiye sent assistance a day earlier.

Minister Raed Al-Saleh said on X that “hundreds of thousands of forest trees over an estimated area of around 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) in 28 locations have turned to ash.”

He later decried “a real environmental disaster” at a press conference in the province.

More than 80 teams including civil defense personnel have been helping battle the blaze, he said, noting local organizations and residents were also providing assistance, in addition to teams and firefighting aircraft from neighboring Jordan and Turkiye.

Saleh said it would take days to declare the blazes completely extinguished once the fire was brought under control, calling them “catastrophic.”

Syria’s defense ministry said the air force was assisting, publishing images of a helicopter collecting and dropping water.

Jordan’s public security directorate said in a statement that the “specialized firefighting teams from the civil defense... have been provided with all the modern equipment and machinery necessary to carry out their duties to the fullest extent.”

Swathes of forested area and farmland have burnt and some villages evacuated as the fires raged including near the Turkish border.

The United Nations deputy envoy to Syria Najat Rochdi said in a statement Sunday on X that Damascus “needs more international assistance” to face the fires.

A statement from the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula said that “UN teams are on the ground conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.”

Nearly seven months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that ravaged the country’s economy, infrastructure and public services.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”

GAZA CITY: The head of a Palestinian armed group opposed to Hamas and accused of aid looting in the Gaza Strip confirmed Sunday it was coordinating with the Israeli military in an interview with public radio.

Yasser Abu Shabab said his group, known as the Popular Forces, was able to move freely in zones under Israeli military control and communicated their operations beforehand.

“We keep them informed, but we carry out the military actions on our own,” he said in an interview with Makan, Israel’s Arabic-language public radio broadcaster.

Abu Shabab also said his group had received “logistical and financial support from several parties,” without mentioning Israel directly.

“There are things we can’t talk about publicly.”

Last month, the Israeli authorities admitted to providing support to armed Palestinian groups opposed to Hamas in Gaza, without naming them, though local media reports identified the group in question as Abu Shabab’s.

“It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, accused the government of “giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.”

The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes Abu Shabab as the head of a criminal gang in the Rafah region of southern Gaza that has been suspected of looting aid trucks.

Abu Shabab did not address the accusation in his radio interview, and stressed that the only goal of his militia was to defeat Hamas and to provide an alternative for governance in the Gaza Strip.

“We do not belong to any ideology or political organization,” Abu Shabab said in the interview, adding that he was seeking to eradicate Hamas’s “injustice” and “corruption.”

“We will continue to fight, no matter the bloodshed,” he added. “Right now, Hamas is dying. They know their end is near.”

Abu Shabab has drawn the ire of Hamas, which has ruled over the Gaza Strip since 2007. On Wednesday, a Hamas military court gave him 10 days to turn himself in to be tried for treason, among other charges.

On Sunday, a coalition of Palestinian clans accused the Popular Forces of “shamelessly collaborating with the enemy.”

“They are rejected by all our people,” the coalition said in a statement.

“We will show no mercy to them or to anyone who follows in their footsteps by aiding the occupation. They will be treated as they deserve to be: traitors and collaborators.”