Fires rage in Lebanon

Mount Lebanon residents woke up on Tuesday to massive fires raging in nearby forests and for some, near their houses. The historic village of Deir el-Qamar was hit hard, forcing many residents to flee their homes. The fires reportedly started in the Chouf mountains and were fanned by heavy winds.

At least 10 fires erupted overnight in various areas in the north, south and Bekaa valley. It is not clear how they started. Some are blaming high temperatures and heavy eastern wind. Authorities have not ruled out arson.

Most of Deir al-Qamar is engulfed in thick, black smoke. There's not one wooded area left. Some villas are ablaze, cars are burnt, the phone and electricity lines are burnt," resident Joseph al-Itr told Reuters.Television footage showed several burned-out cars on roads in the Shouf region and smoke rising from charred woodland. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Local media outlets said some residents had been evacuated from their homes.

A police statement said at least 10 fires had erupted since late on Monday and civil defence forces were having difficulty reaching some of them. It was unclear how the fires had started.

Big fires were also reported in the northern region of Akkar and several others in the Metn area northeast of Beirut. The town's deputy governor described the Deir al-Qamar fires as "an environmental disaster". The army was using helicopters to try to douse the blazes but was finding it hard to reach some areas because of heavy winds. (Reuters)

Update. Lebanon Files quoted civil defense director Darwish Hobeika as saying the cause of the fires is arson.

Comments

[Jeha]

Go figure...

Fire season is not really upon us, and the odd thing is the fact that the fires were started in many different locations, apparently within minutes of one another.

Is Bashar literally trying to burn Lebanon to the ground? After all, his air force should not expect much AA fire from Lebanese pine trees. Or was it a leaky Israeli plane? After all, they have been mistaking our skies for their playground with increasing regularity...

[Blacksmith Jade]

The leaky Israeli plane question is a good one to ask, Jeha.

But if you consider that some fires were started before down, while others later in the morning, and others even around noon...

...then the possibility of the fires being set by different agents on the gains in likelihood.

[Blacksmith Jade]

The leaky Israeli plane question is a good one to ask, Jeha.

But if you consider the fact that some fires were started before dawn, while others later in the morning, and others even around noon...

...then the possibility of the fires being set by different agents on the ground gains in likelihood.

[LebExile]

Remember that Bashar Assad responded in the BBC interview (about the Sep 6 Israeli attack) that Syria will respond either militarily, or politically, or there are other ways they can respond...

I thought the other ways was the usual state sponsored terrorism, but, fires - that's completely new...

and please, dont accuse me of blaming Syria everytime something in Lebanon happens ... it's just all too convienient.

It may be a message to Jumblatt after he said that his block will only vote for a March 14 candidate...

[Bad Vilbel]

Interesting. Sure sounds like a new tactic. Why bother with Fath Al Islam type militias to occupy the army when you can just set some forests on fire?

[ghassan karam]

Come on you guys, you can't be serious. sh... happens.

[Bad Vilbel]

Uhm. Ghassan? Where you been? Shit happens?
When was the last time this many fires all started on the same day, with no real natural phenomenon to explain them (storms, lightning, whatever)?

I'm not passing judgement here. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but it sure seems a bit iffy to me.

Besides, if the M8 crowd can blame every thing under the sun on Zionist conspiracy theories, then I say we can blame fires on such conspiracies too, eh?

Come on! You and I know those nasty zionists control the weather through their satellites, and can target pinpoint tinder in Mount Lebanon with lightning-like bolts of energy from space!

[Jay]

What next, rumours of an unmarked plane coming from Israel with CIA agents carrying lighters?

[Blacksmith Jade]

Ghassan:

185 fires in 12 hours, from Qobayat to Hasbaya...

[ghassan karam]

BV/Blacksmith
I am not going to question whether the fires are suspicious or not but neither I am going to make accusations based on a knee jerk reaction, especially when the accusation lacks any rationale. I have never been able to play the role of an unquestioning blind partisanship and I guess that I am not about to start. Who wins from having these fires and how would these victories come about? Meanwhile I will keep an open mind.

[Shunkleash]

Yalla burn it all down, just let me get my marshmellows!

Not enough conspiracy theories going around folks, what we need is MORE, MORE, MORE!!. How about THIS ONE, this is a joowich conspiracy to cause strife among the lebanese and create animosity towards the syrians who are our brotherlies and stuff and who only want the best for us...How the joos did it? Well simple, they used their newest secret weapon---->gay "comando" mountain men are infiltrated by air into the country and they use anal flame throwers to start the fires. OR THIS ONE, it was jewish aliens who started the fires using their kosher lasers.

Forest fires have many causes but peculiar thing about forest fires is they tend to start in one locale and depending on the direction and strength of the wind and availablity of fuel they spread. More importantly, at night moisture in the ground, depending on the heat of the day, rises to the surface making it highly unlikely that so many fires can start at the same time AT NIGHT. Whereas, I too will tend to beleive that they are the work of nefarious hands I am at odds as to who would benfit and how.

A good bet is that at the very least, a message or perhaps a reminder is being sent.

Ayesh sauteed Lubnan

[Bad Vilbel]

Ghassan,

I hope you know I was just yanking your chain. No one is throwing accusations or jumping to conclusions. But as mentioned above 185 fires on one day is too freaking suspicious to be mere coincidence. SOMETHING is afoot.

Who benefits? Good question. But this number of fires does accomplish a few things that fall in line with "instability in Lebanon" (which really is no different than assassinations, Fath Al Islam uprisings, etc.)

1. Keeps the army occupied with fires (notice the news that the units that are still hunting for FAI leaders got pulled to fight fires?) There has been a very clear pattern of spreading the LAF thin since last summer. Units got pulled to Beirut for the sit-in, then more of them got pulled in for security and to guard our MPs. Then you had Fath Al Islam in the North (as opposed to the much easier to stir up camps near Saida and Tyre...Wonder why!)
Army is spread thin, away from the Syrian border (weapons route to Hezbollah) and away from the South (where Hezb is supposedly rebuilding).

2. The climate of fear that assassinations, car bombs, uprisings and uncertainy have cultivated is added to with fires. They keep the population distracted and preoccupied.

3. Certain "areas" (with certain affiliations) can be sent messages with these fires, just like car bombs would: The chouf, the Metn, etc.

So, yeah, maybe i'm making more out of this than I should. But there is a fairly compelling case for "something is fishy" here. Hell, of the various conspiracy theories I've heard over the past year, this is one of the more plausible ones :)

[anon]

A question to ponder:
Anyone know where all these 185 fires ocurred ?
Are they located only in areas where they might give most damage to M14 population?

[Blacksmith Jade]

Ghassan: The fires are suspicious and shouldn't be taken as a random occurance (i.e. shit happens).

Where you take it from there is up to you.