DAMOUR, Lebanon - Wildfires spread through parts of Lebanon on Tuesday after forcing some residents to flee their homes in the middle of the night, while others were stuck inside as the flames reached villages south of Beirut, authorities said. There were no reports of fatalities from the fires — among the worst to hit Lebanon in years. “Your planes are now fighting fires in Lebanon as we speak here,” Lebanon’s Defence Minister Elias Bou Saab said during a visit to Cyprus. In neighbouring Syria, fires spread in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, as well as the central province of Homs, but authorities there brought all the fires under control. ____Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus Syria and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia Cyprus contributed to this report.

Source: thestar October 15, 2019 09:56 UTC