Lebanon's members of the civil defense put out raging forest fires on Tuesday, October 15.
Lebanon has turned to its neighbors for help to battle the forest fires that have ravaged homes and killed a volunteer firefighter in the Mediterranean country, the premier said Tuesday.
"We have contacted the Europeans who will send means of help," Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in comments carried by national news agency NNA.
Dozens of fires have erupted around Lebanon in the past few days, the head of civil defense Raymond Khattar told NNA, amid unusually high temperatures and strong winds. In an area south of Beirut, firefighters for two days have been unable to stop the blaze, which has burned four homes to the ground and caused dozens to suffer with breathing difficulties, NNA said.
Interior Minister Raya El-Hassan said Cyprus and Greece had responded to Lebanon's call for help.
"Two Cypriot planes have been working to put out the fires since yesterday," she said on Twitter.
UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, whose members usually patrol the country's southern border with Israel, has also joined in the efforts, the agency said. (AFP)
