Hotels and homes evacuated on Greek island of Crete as wildfire burns out of control

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighters were struggling Thursday to bring a major wildfire on Greece's southern island of Crete under control, hampered by gale force winds whipping up the flames.

Thousands of people were evacuated from hotels and homes overnight after the fire started Wednesday afternoon in the Ierapetra area on the island's southern coast, officials said.

The head of the hoteliers’ association of Ierapetra and southeastern Crete, Giorgos Tzarakis, told local media about 5,000 tourists had been evacuated from the area, and that several homes and businesses had been damaged.

By Thursday morning, 230 firefighters backed by 10 water-dropping helicopters were battling the flames advancing through forest and farmland.

Gale force winds in the area, with gusts reaching about 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, “are constantly creating ... new outbreaks, making firefighting work very difficult,” said fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.

Two people were evacuated by boat overnight, while six private boats were on standby in case further evacuations by sea became necessary, the coast guard said.

Nektarios Papadakis, a civil protection official at the regional authority, told The Associated Press overnight that tourists who had been evacuated from the area had been taken to an indoor basketball arena and hotels in other parts of the island.

Several residents were treated for breathing difficulties, officials said, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

The Fire Service and a civil protection agency issued mobile phone alerts for the evacuations and appealed to residents not to return to try to save their property.

As fires crested ridgelines and edged toward residential areas overnight, the blaze sent clouds of ash into the sky, illuminated by the headlights of emergency vehicles and water trucks that lined the coastal road near the resorts of Ferma and Achlia on the southeast of Crete.

Crete is one of Greece’s most popular destinations for both foreign and domestic tourists.

The risk of wildfires remained very high across Crete and parts of southern Greece Thursday, according to a daily bulletin issued by the Fire Service.

Wildfires are frequent in the country during its hot, dry summers, and the fire department has already tackled dozens across Greece so far this year.

In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned while trying to swim away from the flames.

Firefighter uses a hose as the try to extinguish the blaze near the town of Ierapetra on the south coast of Crete island, Greece, Thursday July 3, 2025, as a fast-moving wildfire prompted authorities to clear villages and coastal areas, officials said. (InTime News via AP)

A house lies among scorched trees near the town of Ierapetra on the south coast of Crete island, Greece, Thursday, July 3, 2025, after a fast-moving wildfire prompted the evacuation of villages and coastal areas, officials said. (InTime News via AP)

A firefighter uses a hose as he tries to extinguish the blaze near the town of Ierapetra on the south coast of Crete island, Greece, Thursday July 3, 2025, as a fast-moving wildfire prompted authorities to clear villages and coastal areas, officials said. (InTime News via AP)

Firefighter uses a hose as the try to extinguish the blaze near the town of Ierapetra on the south coast of Crete island, Greece, Thursday July 3, 2025, as a fast-moving wildfire prompted authorities to clear villages and coastal areas, officials said. (InTime News via AP)

Fire burns in the Ahlia area near the port town of Ierapetra on the south coast of Crete island, Greece, late Wednesday, July 2, 2025, prompting the evacuation of villages and hotels in the region, authorities said. (InTime News via AP)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)