Latakia - Sana
The Shuh and Cedar Reserve in Slanfeh is considered one of the most important natural reserves in the Lattakia Governorate, as it embraces the last remaining rare cedar forests in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea and for its perennial trees dating back hundreds of years and rare plants.
The reserve, which extends over an area of 1,350 hectares, is also important due to its being a safe home for many wild animals and an important stop for migratory birds in the summer, and it is the only area in Syria classified by the World Bird Council as a bottleneck area for migratory birds.
The engineer in charge of the reserve from the Forestry Department in Lattakia, Yakzan Maarouf, said in an interview with SANA's correspondent that the reserve mainly contains fir and cedar trees and various other types of pine and oak trees, oaks, orchids, and rare plant species such as peony, spring flower and snow flower.
The engineer, Maarouf pointed out that many new plant species were found in the reserve that he did not know existed, such as common almonds, creeping peaches and ornamental peaches, so that the number of plant species contained in the reserve became 142 plant species distributed over 107 genera and 50 plant species, which constitutes about 12 percent of The botanical genera and 38 percent of the plant species found in Syria.
He added that there are 53 woody species in the reserve and 89 kinds of weeds and weeds and different types of animals of different types of vertebrates and mammals, including wolf, fox, hyena, wild rabbit, mountain deer and brown deer in addition to wild boar, forest mouse, mole, hedgehog and many other species, pointing out that the Shuh reserve was a habitat. For many species that faced extinction, such as the Syrian tiger and the Syrian brown bear.
The damage that the reserve has suffered recently as a result of the fires was limited, but a number of citizens and environmentalists have expressed their hope that plans will be put in place to protect and care for this reserve and rehabilitate those affected by fires as a national treasure in the full sense of this word.
The supervisor of the reserve, Engineer Bilal Ibrahim, explained that this nature reserve consists of a western foot that contains rare fir trees and an eastern foothill that contains perennial cedar trees, dating back hundreds of years, which are considered an important national wealth, indicating that only 5% of the reserve has been damaged by the fire. Recently erupted, which are broadleaf injuries that can regrow, as the burned part was separated from the green by paving roads with heavy machinery and sometimes by hand digging, and a belt was built around the cedar trees in anticipation of future fires and any potential danger.
SANA's camera documented the limited damage to this reserve, which extends over an area of 1,350 hectares, of which 1000 hectares were in Lattakia, of which only two hectares were affected, while the losses were less in Hama Governorate, according to the Director of Lattakia Agriculture, Engineer Munther Khair Bey, indicating that the speed and readiness of the firefighting mechanisms of the Directorate in cooperation with the elements The fire brigade and civil defense had a great impact on quickly controlling and extinguishing the fire and preventing it from spreading to wider areas despite the difficult climatic conditions and the rugged terrain of the area.
The Shuh and Arz Reserve, which is located on the administrative borders of Lattakia Governorate, has a charming view of the Al-Ghab Plain and the Sea, and its borders extend in the Lattakia Governorate between Slanfah “Broadcasting Station” Al-Ghab road in the north, Al-Burj in the south, and Jourin Al-Rayhana to the east, and the Slanfeh highway and Jouba Burghal to the west.