DAMASCUS, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Syrian authorities established a joint operations room on Sunday to combat wildfires that have ravaged more than 7,000 hectares of forests in the northwestern Latakia province for four consecutive days.

The operations room has begun securing water tankers, deploying volunteers, and using heavy machinery to cut fire lines, Raed al-Saleh, chief of Syria's emergency and disaster management authorities, said Sunday in a statement.

Al-Saleh noted a slight improvement overnight, which has enabled firefighting teams to formulate targeted cooling tactics, but warned that active hotspots still remain.

The fires were expanding rapidly due to drought, strong winds, and unexploded war remnants, al-Saleh said, adding that some 90 local firefighting teams and more than 150 vehicles are deployed alongside Turkish and Jordanian emergency units.

Jordanian helicopters joined the firefighting operations Sunday morning, while Turkish teams entered Syria on Saturday with two helicopters and 11 firefighting vehicles.

The Syrian Civil Defense reported multiple volunteers injured by exhaustion, smoke inhalation, and burns amid extreme heat and landmine risks. Seven villages in northern rural Latakia were evacuated as a precaution, though no casualties have been officially confirmed. ■