ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Tuesday briefly suspended shipping traffic along the Dardanelle Strait because of a windswept forest fire near the tourist town of Canakkale.
The emergency response service said it had evacuated seven villages and was preparing to help people leave three more on Turkiye’s northwestern coast.
“The good news is that the winds seem to blowing away from the city center of Canakkale,” Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said in televised comments.
Televised images showed clouds of thick smoke rolling over the edge of the seaside city on Tuesday afternoon.
The fire also forced the evacuation of a local university and closure of a highway running through the blaze.
The Turkish coast guard reopened southbound traffic along the strait after more than two dozen aircraft managed to largely contain the blaze by Tuesday night.
The Dardanelle Strait links the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and is a popular tourist destination because it is also the site of the ancient ruins of Troy.
Turkiye has been trying to modernize its emergency response service after being gripped by hugely destructive fires along its southern and western coasts in 2021.
Those flames scorched more than 200,000 hectares of pine forest and claimed at least nine lives.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came under intense criticism for his response to the disaster at the time.
Its magnitude raised the political importance of environmental issues in Turkiye and prompted Erdogan to pushed through Ankara’s long-delayed ratification of the Paris Climate Accords.
Wildfire briefly halts marine traffic on Turkish strait
https://arab.news/pnpuc
Wildfire briefly halts marine traffic on Turkish strait
- Televised images showed clouds of thick smoke rolling over the edge of the seaside city on Tuesday afternoon
- The fire also forced the evacuation of a local university and closure of a highway running through the blaze
Ceasefire with Kurdish-led force extended for another 15 days, Syrian army says
- The defense ministry said the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants to Iraq
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension
RAQQA, Syria: Hours after the expiration of a four-day truce between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led fighters Saturday, Syria’s defense ministry announced the ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension.
“Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability,” the group said in a statement.
Over the past three weeks, there have been intense clashes between government forces and the SDF, in which the SDF lost large parts of the area they once controlled.
Earlier in the day, the Kurdish-led force called on the international community to prevent any escalation.
The end of the truce came as government forces have been sending reinforcements to Syria’s northeast.
Syria’s interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides.
A new version of the accord was signed last weekend, and a four-day ceasefire was declared Tuesday. Part of the new deal is that SDF members will have to merge into the army and police forces as individuals.
The SDF said in a statement Saturday that military buildups and logistical movements by government forces have been observed, “clearly indicating an intent to escalate and push the region toward a new confrontation.” The SDF said it will continue to abide by the truce.
On Saturday, state TV said authorities on Saturday released 126 boys under the age of 18 who were held at the Al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa that was taken by government forces Friday. The teenagers were taken to the city of Raqqa where they were handed over to their families, the TV station said.
The prison is also home to some of the 9,000 members of the Daesh group who are held in northeastern Syria. Most of them remain held in jails run by the SDF. Government forces have so far taken control of two prisons while the rest are still run by the SDF.
Earlier this week, the US military said that some 7,000 Daesh detainees will be transferred to detention centers in neighboring Iraq.
On Wednesday, the US military said that 150 prisoners have been taken to Iraq.
