Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked a host of foreign countries Friday for their assistance in fighting Israel's largest-ever fire near the northern port city of Haifa. The Israeli leader mentioned Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who sent two planes to assist. Relations between the two countries have been tense in past months.
Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry said that the two CL-215 type airplanes were sent upon a directive from Erdoğan to assist in extinguishing the fire in Israel. In case of a request (from Israel), five Cross-border Fire Operation Teams are waiting ready in the Turkish provinces of Mersin, Adana and Kahramanmaras to help efforts to extinguish the Haifa fire, the Ministry added.
