BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Environment Ministry is seeking to reduce the risk of recurrent forest fires and their severity through an updated national strategy, which was launched on Wednesday.
Nasser Yassin, caretaker minister of environment, said that work was being carried out “under financially, administratively, and politically unfavorable conditions” to reduce the risk of forests and woodlands catching on fire.
Yassin pointed out that the success of the strategy, however, is based on the cooperation of “local people who are proud of their areas, environment, and the health of their sons and daughters.”
The awareness-raising work, he said, has brought “people closer to their environment.”
He referred to “the launch of an emergency fund to support firefighting efforts,” and said: “We are working on developing its law and management methods with the World Bank.”
Yassin added: “There is also a project worth $4.5 million, a gift from the Global Environment Facility, to support the efforts of local communities and regional groups to enhance their readiness and preparedness to reduce the risks of fires and extinguish them.”
Melanie Hauenstein, resident representative of the UN Development Program in Lebanon, said: “Forest fires are not only an environmental concern, but their impact is also noticeable in many other sectors.”
Hauenstein added: “The UN program has equipped dedicated operations rooms in the Lebanese provinces with the necessary tools and supplies to ensure their proper functioning in the event of forest fires and other crises. We have supported the establishment of specially trained first responder teams to deal with forest fires and equipped them with the necessary tools and equipment.”
She said that she, in cooperation with the UK ambassador, the social affairs minister, and the director-general of civil defense, opened a civil defense facility in Jezzine two days ago. This facility, she added, “aims to protect the beautiful pine forests in Jezzine and is the largest of its kind in the Middle East.”
She stressed that protection of the forests “directly benefits 300 Lebanese families who own pine trees, 40 farmers and their families who invest in collecting and processing pine, 120 workers in the pine industry, and 65 civil defense and volunteer personnel.”
Forest fires have not spared any Lebanese region from damage to pine and fruit trees, including the regions of North Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, and South Lebanon.
The environment ministry proposed to the previous parliament the establishment of a strategy to manage the resources resulting from the quarry and crusher sector and a new legislative framework for it, but it was never implemented.
According to the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon, approximately 14,460 forest fires have been recorded in the past five years, resulting in the loss of thousands of hectares of forest cover in Lebanon.
Brig. Gen. Raymond Khattar, director-general of the Lebanese Civil Defense, said: “Rapidly changing weather patterns may make conditions favorable for forest and vegetation fires. However, this does not rule out the possibility of further intentional arson, which has been indicated by repeated signs of deliberate ignition, or what has become known as purposeful fires.”
The impact of climate change is not the only thing that has marred Lebanon’s natural beauty.
The directorate of geographical affairs in the army conducted a survey two years ago, covering over 80 percent of quarry and crusher sites operating without permits or with permits obtained through the intervention of powerful forces in Lebanon or as a result of collusion in facilitating and organizing violations.
The survey revealed “huge excesses in terms of depth,” with some excavations reaching a depth of 70 meters, as well as distortions and mountain cutting amounting to hundreds of meters in height.
The affected areas across all Lebanese lands reached approximately 65 million square meters, distributed among 1,356 quarries, crushers, and excavators.
The governorate of Mount Lebanon ranked first in terms of the area and number of quarries and crushers, especially in the districts of Aley, Metn, Jbeil, and Kesrouan, where the affected areas exceeded 15 million square meters.
Lebanon launches strategy to control forest fires
https://arab.news/y5u45
Lebanon launches strategy to control forest fires
- Nasser Yassin, caretaker minister of environment, said that work was being carried out “under financially, administratively, and politically unfavorable conditions”
- Forest fires have not spared any Lebanese region from damage to pine and fruit trees
Flights resume between Mashhad and Dammam
DUBAI: Iran Air on Tuesday resumed flights between Mashhad and Dammam after a nine year hiatus, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported.
“A deputy from Iran’s embassy, the representative of Iran Air and representatives from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation welcomed arriving passengers in Dammam and stressed the need to facilitate the movement of people between the two countries,” ISNA said.
Lebanon asked US, France to press Israel to halt truce breaches, say sources
- The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon
- Lebanon’s parliament speaker says Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far
BEIRUT: Top Lebanese officials have urged Washington and Paris to press Israel to uphold a ceasefire, after dozens of military operations on Lebanese soil that Beirut has deemed violations, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Deadly Israeli strikes on south Lebanon and Hezbollah rocket launches on an Israeli military post on Monday have put a US-brokered ceasefire between the two in an increasingly fragile position less than a week after it came into effect.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally who negotiated the deal on behalf of Lebanon, spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late Monday and expressed concern about the state of the ceasefire, the sources said.
Neither the French presidency nor the foreign ministry were immediately available to comment. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.
US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that the US had “anticipated that there might be violations.”
The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups, including Hezbollah, from launching attacks on Israel. It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon.
A monitoring mechanism chaired by the United States is tasked with monitoring, verifying and helping enforce the truce, but it has yet to begin work.
Berri on Monday urged it to “urgently” ensure Israel halts its breaches, saying Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.
Israel says its continued military activity in Lebanon is aimed at enforcing the ceasefire and does not violate its obligations under the truce.
Mikati on Monday met in Beirut with US General Jasper Jeffers, who will chair the monitoring committee, and stressed the need for Israeli troops to swiftly withdraw.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that France’s representative to the committee, General Guillaume Ponchin, will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday and that the committee would hold its first meeting on Thursday.
“There is an urgency to finalize the mechanism, otherwise it will be too late,” the source said, referring to Israel’s gradual intensification of strikes despite the truce.
Miller said the monitoring mechanism would begin its work “in the coming days.”
At least 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest day since the ceasefire came into effect.
They included six people in the southern town of Hariss and another four people in the southern town of Taloussa, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel strikes car on Damascus airport road: state media
- An Israeli air strike hit a car on the Damascus airport road on Tuesday, causing it to explode
DAMASCUS: An Israeli air strike hit a car on the Damascus airport road on Tuesday, causing it to explode, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.
“A car exploded after it was targeted in an Israeli aggression on the road to Damascus International Airport,” SANA reported, citing a police source, without saying who was targeted or if there were any casualties.
Hamas, Fatah agree on joint committee to run post-war Gaza
CAIRO: Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party have agreed to create a committee to jointly administer post-war Gaza, negotiators from both sides said Tuesday.
Under the plan, which needs Abbas’s approval, the committee would be composed of 10 to 15 non-partisan figures with authority on matters related to the economy, education, health, humanitarian aid and reconstruction, according to a draft of the proposal seen by AFP.
Iraqi armed group urges government to deploy troops to Syria
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s powerful Iran-aligned Kataeb Hezbollah armed group has called on Baghdad to send troops to Syria to support the Damascus government against a militant offensive.
Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, made the appeal in a statement shared on pro-Iranian Telegram channels late Monday. Excerpts were also posted on its official website.
The militant offensive, led by Islamists, has seized the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, stirring concern in political and security circles in neighboring Iraq.
A spokesman for Kataeb Hezbollah, part of the Iran-backed “axis of resistance,” said the group had not yet decided to deploy its own fighters but urged Baghdad to act.
“We believe the Iraqi government should take the initiative to send regular military forces in coordination with the Syrian government, as these groups pose a threat to Iraq’s national security and the region,” the spokesman said.
Kataeb Hezbollah has previously fought in Syria alongside forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
In Iraq, it is part of the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a coalition of former paramilitary forces now integrated into the regular armed forces.
This coalition, under the Iraqi prime minister’s command, denies involvement outside Iraq’s borders.
Iraq remains scarred by the rise of the Daesh group in 2014, which saw the extremists capture nearly a third of the country before being defeated in 2017.
On Monday, Iraq said it had sent armored vehicles to bolster security along its 600-kilometer (370-mile) border with Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported the deployment of about 200 pro-Iranian Iraqi fighters in Syria’s Aleppo region to back government forces.
