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Some Alawites view the fires as part of a broader effort to eliminate the minority religious group from Syria’s coastal regions.

Devastating wildfires continued to burn for the fourth day on 7 July in Latakia governorate on Syria’s northern coast, home to many of the country’s minority Alawite population, amid reports that the fires were deliberately started by extremist Sunni militants affiliated with the government.

High winds, hot temperatures, and Latakia’s forested mountainous terrain are making it difficult to suppress the fires.

“The magnitude of the fires cannot be described. When there is no wind, we suppress them and put them all out, but when the wind picks up again, the fires restart as if we have done nothing. The wind feeds the fire,” said Ayman al-Natour, a member of Syria’s White Helmets, or civil defense.

The fires have burned approximately 10,000 acres of forest so far, with over 80 teams and 160 firefighting vehicles taking part in the operations, according to Syrian authorities.

Firefighters from Turkiye and Jordan have also reached the area to assist. The Lebanese army also sent two helicopters to take part in extinguishing the fires.

Syrian Minister of Disaster Management and Emergency Response Raed al-Saleh stated on Monday that he had briefed Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the current situation.

The ongoing fires threaten Syria’s domestic food production, as the mountainous regions of Latakia provide much of the country’s supply of tobacco, fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken, eggs, cheese, and milk.

At the same time, reports continue to emerge that the fires, which are burning in regions home to many Alawite farming villages, did not start accidentally.

On Sunday, the Syrian Democratic Observatory reported it was receiving messages from villagers on Telegram stating that vehicles belonging to General Security, Syria’s internal security services, were seen setting fires in the villages of Briyanes and Al-Janjaniya in the Latakia countryside.

The Observatory reported further that a fire broke out in the village of Al-Muzayriah in the Jableh countryside.

According to eyewitnesses, four cars belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the faction now dominating the Syrian government, started the fire and left the scene. A video of the fire in Al-Muzayriah showed that it started on the side of the road in a straight line.

Another video circulating on social media shows the suspected arsonist speaking in a dialect foreign to the area, insulting local residents, and threatening to keep the area “warm” if it rains.

During a series of major massacres carried out by armed factions affiliated with the Ministry of Defense and General Security in March, gunmen filmed themselves taking credit for deliberately lighting the forests on fire around the town of Qardaha.

During the massacres, gunmen went from home to home, killing all Alawite men they could find, as well as some women and children. At least 1,600 were murdered.

Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, allegedly a militant offshoot of HTS, claimed responsibility on Sunday for starting the fires.

“With the help of God Almighty, the Mujahideen of Saraya Ansar al-Sunna burned the Qastal forests in the Latakia countryside on the 8th of Muharram. This led to the fires spreading to other areas, forcing the Nusayris [Alawites] to flee their homes, and causing a number of them to suffocate,” the group stated on Telegram.

The extremist group also claimed credit for the suicide bombing at the Mar Elias church in Damascus that killed at least 25 people. The Syrian government immediately blamed ISIS for the attack, even though members of its own General Security were involved.

Some Alawites do not feel that Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah exists but rather is a front group for the government to carry out actions it does not want to take responsibility for.

“There is no such faction called Ansar al-Sunna, and it never existed. General Security is the one that destroys, burns, and kills, then claims responsibility for it in the name of Ansar al-Sunna to cover up its crimes,” argued one Alawite observer on X in the wake of the fires.

An Alawite man speaking with The Cradle says he views the fires as part of a broader effort by the Syrian government to cleanse the coastal regions of their Alawite population.

“Fires have even been documented in Alawite villages during the winter season, raising serious suspicions about forced displacement and demographic engineering,” he stated.

Alawite employees are being dismissed arbitrarily from their jobs, and they are being killed on their own land. Now, their homes and lands are being burned. It is a silent extermination of the Alawites, carried out under international approval and a disturbing silence,” he concluded.

The Cradle Media report