A large fire broke out yesterday evening, Saturday, in an agricultural land within Syrian territory, near the border of Nineveh Province. Iraqi civil defense teams have been mobilized at the border, anticipating the spread of the fire. Rashid Al-Shammari, director of the Rabiah district, stated that "the fire ignited in harvested agricultural land on the Iraqi-Syrian border near Rabiah, west of Nineveh."
Al-Shammari explained that "firefighting teams from the civil defense in Nineveh province are on alert at the Iraqi border to combat the fire should it expand and reach the border." He denied reports from some websites about the emission of gases due to sanitary landfill activities in Rabiah district and refuted claims circulating in Nineveh about instances of suffocation caused by gases from the fire at the landfill site. The local official pointed out that "the smoke and gases emitted near Rabiah district are a result of the fire that erupted inside Syrian territory."
