Prime Minister Saad Hariri chaired part of the meeting of The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority that was held this morning at the Grand Serail, in the presence of Interior Minister Raya Al-Hassan, the Head of the Authority Zahi Shaheen, the Secretary General of the Higher Defense Council Major-General Mahmoud Al-Asmar, Mount Lebanon Governor Mohamad Mekkawi, and representatives of various ministries, departments and security services, to follow-up the operations to extinguish fires that started in several Lebanese areas.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Hariri said: “Unfortunately, we are witnessing frequent fires, this happens all over the world and we are exerting all possible efforts with the operating room and all the relevant bodies, including the army, security forces, civil defense, governors, municipalities, civil defense and the Red Cross to extinguish them as soon as possible.

The Minister of Interior and I contacted a number of countries to send additional helicopters and aircrafts to extinguish the fires that have broken out in many Lebanese regions and to combat them and limit their spread. We are exerting great efforts and I thank all those here for everything they are doing. The Relief Agency will identify the damages in homes and properties. We will work around the clock and do our duty as a state to complete the firefighting process.

The most important thing for me is that there are no losses of lives and certainly we will investigate what happened to know how it started. I do not want to accuse anyone, but a clear investigation should be conducted to see if what happened is deliberate. If it is, those who did that should pay the price, and if it is not, it could be due to the climate change that the world is witnessing and that is causing disasters. The most important thing is that there are no human damages. The physical damages can be compensated”.

Question: Did you ask for the help of the Italian Government?

Hariri: Yes we did. We contacted everyone for help. We contacted the Europeans who will send equipment within four hours so we can control the fires.

Question: Why didn’t you use the two planes that are at the airport to extinguish the fires?

Hariri: Yesterday we managed to put out the fire, but unfortunately hot winds reignited the fire. We need planes in some areas that we cannot reach. The main problem we faced at the beginning was that we were unable to send the helicopters so that they would not hit the high voltage power lines. Thus, it was necessary to use the planes sent by Cyprus.

The planes in the airport are old and need maintenance. There are planes and helicopters that belong to the Lebanese army, and there are four planes that will come to help. Blame at this time does not help at all. Everyone is working hard day and night and there is no negligence from anyone.