Al-Ghab Plain Wildfires Highlight New Authorities’ Weak Emergency Response

Syria has witnessed a wave of wildfires this year, most intense along the Syrian coast in July before later spreading to the Al-Ghab Plain in the western part of the Hama governorate, where a large blaze devoured thousands of dunums of forests and farmland, forcing hundreds to flee temporarily. These fires, particularly those in the Al-Ghab Plain, revealed the scale of institutional incapacity in emergency response, alongside the absence of any official plans for compensation or reforestation.

The wave of fires that struck Syria this year was among the worst in recent years. Risk intelligence firm SARI Global described the fire season between April and June 2025, especially in Lattakia Governorate, as “the worst recorded to date.” The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) noted that Syria is facing “the most severe extreme weather phenomena in 60 years,” referring to the waves of drought and rising temperatures that contributed to the intensification and spread of fires in several areas, including Lattakia, Hama, and Idlib.

The first fire in the Naba Al-Tayyeb area of the Al-Ghab Plain broke out on July 23, consuming around 500 dunums of forest land before rapidly spreading to nearby villages due to weak response by the authorities and weather conditions conducive to fire expansion. This led to the displacement of dozens of families from surrounding villages fearing the flames would reach their homes. The extensive destruction of vegetation caused direct losses to local sources of income, as many residents rely on collecting carob, as well as wild plants and herbs such as bay leaves, wild thyme, and rosemary to secure their basic livelihoods. Local traders told The Syria Report that supplies of bay leaves have sharply declined. Some traders used to receive nearly two tonnes of fresh leaves per day, whereas today, quantities do not exceed half a tonne per week.

Hundreds of farmers in the Al-Ghab Plain suffered losses from the fires, as they depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods. The losses include agricultural land, homes, tools, farming machinery, and water tanks. Ragheb, from the village of Mazhal in western Masyaf countryside, explained that the fires had consumed everything. “The entire season is gone: the figs, apples, and olive trees we inherited from our parents. We no longer have any source of income and don’t know how we will manage in the coming years,” he said.

A farmer from the village of Ain Asad in the Al-Ghab Plain said that the fire reached orchards surrounding homes and devoured apple trees more than 20 years old. He added that an apple tree needs two to three years to start bearing fruit and around a decade to reach its full yield. “We lost the trees and replacing them will be difficult, but we also lost water tanks and many farming tools,” he said.

In the village of Baarin, part of the Masyaf district, one family lost two mud-brick houses that were completely burned down. Farmers in nearby Shatha lost their livestock, preserved food supplies (known locally as mouna), as well as some homes and trees. One farmer said: “We have nothing left, and no one has helped us. Our house, bread, and provisions – everything turned to ashes because of the fire.”

The fires in Ain Asad especially hurt local residents, amid rising poverty levels and the lack of job opportunities. One resident said that they used to walk several kilometres daily to reach the mountain and collect bay leaves and thyme to sell and cover their households’ basic needs. “The mountain was our only source of income, and now we see it completely burned, with no alternatives left,” he said.

During the following week, the fires spread westward from Hama Governorate, reaching the areas of Jabal Al-Tuhr, the village of Annab, the Maqamat Bani Hashim, and the Abu Qubeis forests west of Hama city, destroying vast expanses of forests and pastures. The village of Annab, formerly a tourist destination for Hama residents, turned into a field of ashes as the flames consumed most of its orchards and public facilities.

Affected villagers said the response from official institutions was delayed by nearly five hours, forcing locals to act on their own to confront subsequent fires that broke out in villages such as Al-Zakah, Ain Halaqim, and Baarin. On August 15, residents formed human chains to transport water and used tree branches and primitive tools to prevent the flames from reaching their homes. A resident of Deir Shmeil said that the responses they received when contacting all official bodies were “unconvincing,” adding that they still have recordings proving the delay in response. He explained that firefighting teams justified their absence by citing the difficulty of accessing the area due to rugged roads, which pushed residents to dig small trenches using basic tools to isolate the fire from the village.

In Baarin, one woman spoke about the complete lack of any real assistance from the authorities, confirming that they “faced the fire on their own” when the flames nearly reached the village school. She said that residents used every simple means available – household water hoses, wet tree branches, and even blankets – in an attempt to protect their homes and public facilities from burning.

Local media quoted ministry officials as saying that the weak and delayed response was due to a lack of equipment and resources, noting that the entire western Hama countryside has only two fire engines, one of which has been out of service for months. The ministry has yet to release any official figures on the scale of losses, but unofficial testimonies indicate that thousands of hectares of forests and pastures have been damaged, along with hundreds of hectares of farmland, including olive groves, vineyards, and fields of wheat, cumin, and wild thyme.

A local source from the Saqiyat Al-Nahla area told The Syria Report that the authorities did not take sufficient action and that helicopters made only two water drops despite the fires approaching villages on August 14. No evacuation or organised firefighting plan was implemented, while some vehicles arrived only after the fires had already consumed large areas of land and homes, amid a total absence of ambulances and emergency services. However, the spontaneous local response proved more effective than the official one, exposing the absence of any preventive plans by the authorities to address such environmental disasters. More than a month after the fire, no official body has announced any plans to compensate farmers, reforest burned areas, or provide temporary housing for the displaced.