Its. Wildfires destroy entire communities on the west coast of the u. S. And leave several states scrambling to control the spreading blazes. And in school the. Series to a deciding game the defending n. B. A. Champions beating the Boston Celtics to level the semifinal series at 3 games. Welcome to the news hour firefighters are battling a blaze in the lebanese capital at the site of last months court explosion it started at a destroyed a warehouse which was storing oil and tires the red cross say its threatening your warehouse with food aid this comes just a month after the blast in beirut that killed at least 200. 00 people xenophobes are reports from beirut. Another fire at the port another scare for residents of the lebanese capital port. In fear it was here a little over a month ago that a massive explosion tore through neighborhoods across beirut killing at least 190 people on. Memories of then still fresh now those living close by left their homes as the fire spread. Their westpac. Each day we are afraid. We are running away to a small. Might cause a bigger disaster. Half an hour later the army released this statement it said a warehouse where oils and tires were stored fire. Was likely caused by welding thick black smoke covered the Army Deployed the few firefighting helicopters it has to help crews put out the flames that raged for hours these men lost their cool leagues in the august blast at the time they were called in to put out the fire. And not told there was nearly 3000. 00 tons of highly explosive Ammonium Nitrate in the warehouse which triggered the devastating explosion. Have reason to panic the army said it discovered 4 tons of Ammonium Nitrate. Near one of the ports and says that means there was dangerous material still stored despite the cleanup efforts. The army said it destroyed the material the state prosecutor has asked all security agencies to investigate the cause of thursdays fire but investigations into last months explosion which was blamed on negligence corruption and mismanagement is still ongoing many lebanese say they have little faith in the authorities we need to actually change the whole system we are having a big problem here we need to change them we need what they want they want us to go out this is the last day they can think about it we will not leave we will stay because this is our country and we will not give up many have been calling for new leadership for months they say they are hostages in a corrupt establishment the city has still not come to terms with the last disaster as the country reels from a Political Economic financial and humanitarian crisis these are dark days for lebanon set up for their big. Job as a writer and political analyst he says what happened is a continuation of the negligence and mismanagement. This is clearly not a very healthy situation this early tire were talking about on this fires a spoiler whatever it is thats now. In the air. Its scary him its the same this management and negligence thats been around for decades is still in place there was no miracle over the last 5 weeks that cured everything and fix everything 11 so yes weve had government resign and you know the Prime Minister designate it but they havent done anything yet any real change or any movement to worry its more responsibility in governance 11 on will take some time its not just up in the 5 weeks so what we have right now is a situation. A continuation basically of the neck this is what happened before. Except there is no. 3000. 00 tons of Ammonium Nitrate sitting around just waiting to blow up half the city so these warehouses or these things have been stored are the same warehouses that been there the same supervision they have no sprinklers fires or fire alarms and and actually they have no roofs right now and away by the explosion weeks ago so this iteration right now is definitely not not safer than it was except for the lack of the highly explosive material thousands of refugees are searching for shelter on the greek island of less posts after being forced to spend the night out in the open fire swept through the countrys main camp on tuesday nights seps are being sent in by the greek government to provide accommodation. Reports. This was one of europes largest refugee camps morea on the greek island of lesbos fires have torn through tents and dilapidated structures they were thought to have been deliberately lit by people fed up with that desperate existence compounded by corona fires they are out there. Today part 5. There are. Getting. Thousands of people became homeless once again precious family belongings hastily bundles together to form makeshift bedding there were no fatalities but these are lives thrust even deeper now into limbo is very very very unfair to very very different cordesman perspire is a call for is very broad. Corporate put forward you know has come 3rd where if you dont want to go is living here because this problem but if i may be good nights i know the camp had housed more than 12000 people in cramped unsanitary conditions designed for a quarter of that number of conditions in which coronavirus could easily flourish we are extremely worried not only 4 to 40 percent children that even muddier who are currently on the streets but in particular we need to think also more than 200 people live in the camp who are at particular risk for it either because of their age or because of course that would mean that if they get infected the will be much more sick than the rest of the population and so as far as we know right now those 200. 00 are mixed in the big group of 30000. 00 who are basically at loss in the streets in 20152016 hundreds of thousands of people risk to the mediterranean crossing in small boats from turkey to greek islands like lesbos they fled war persecution and poverty the European Union eventually closed its doors but the refugees kept coming many ending their journey here in moria camp a problem the greek government has long said it shouldnt have to. Dont ask me. I believe that a bad experience can quickly turn into an opportunity for a better reality and this will happen in less bust once the damage in maria has been assessed and in consultation with the European Commission who will take concrete initiatives our Party Remains the health and safety of Vice President s and migrants with nowhere else to go there was little to do but sit and wait. While john was inside the camp just a few hours ago its almost as though were on another planet everything has been reduced to its elements this site however is where the government insists on rebuilding a new secure closed facility the residents of moria village just a kilometer away from here are absolutely against that as is much of the island they simply do not want to camp here anymore the government says that is the wrong choice that the islanders resistance to such a camp is actually causing part of the problem it has prevented the government from building a better facility for the refugees however frankly agreed with the islanders they want to leave too this may now be harder than ever for them because were hearing that much of the paper archive of the Asylum Service that used to stand directly behind me here has been burnt and that may mean theres a lot of people are stuck here for months longer than they would be because the records determining whether they would be granted asylum and allowed to move to mainland greece or whether they would be deported back to turkey. And many of those applications will have to start from scratch. Melinda macross thing is director of the Starfish Foundation a leading engineer on the sidelines she explains what challenges the refugees or since. Its really devastating theres just thousands of people along the road theyre thirsty theyre hungry its very difficult to actually get to them theyre becoming more and more desperate so its even hard to track she give give supplies to them. Also there is a lot of the angry local people actually blocking all the volunteers to for us to get inside to the camp to give them more aid so. Yesterday i saw this great big pregnant woman with them she was just lying there crying on the side of the road there in the side and theres hardly any shade for them its its a very devastating sight theres a very big degree of tension between all of us at the moment 1st of all the well we were we were going through a crisis i mean im actually from this island too ive got a restaurant i thought properties that i rent out so during the crisis the tourism sort of dropped them when we got in 2015 when all the refugees came came through. Then that was dreadful for the fact that there was so much bad media going on at that stopped our tourism it dropped by 80 percent so thats made a lot of us very very traumatic of our income and everything and this you know with of the virus its even more us. And them with the refugees here everybody is like focus on the refugees and not so much about whats this Beautiful Island is all about the tourism so its making us all very frustrated and everything. Plenty more ahead on the aljazeera news hour including at least 8 dead and more than 100. 00 are injured after a violent protest against Police Brutality in colombia and the floodwaters are receding in sudan but theres no relief for the people affected the new threats there are now facing. The huge wave that helped produce a world record and he is here with that story a little later. But 1st turkey has hit back at frances call for a tougher stance towards ankara i made growing tensions in the mediterranean ahead of a summit with southern e. U. Leaders the french president and turkey was no longer a partner to europe in the region ankara has been seeking to expand its Energy Resources in areas claimed by greece and cyprus turkeys foreign minister said mackerels remarks were arrogant and it was not up to him to decide maritime borders. We europeans must be clear and firm with turkey not as a nation as a people but with the government of president order one which is behaving in an unacceptable way. We want to avoid an escalation but avoiding escalation does not have to mean passiveness or acceptance lets bring in a toss about where shes joining us from paris so what more did the french president have to say about this. Well the summit of southern leaders is still continuing on the french mediterranean island of corsica matter while michael calling this summit to talk about a range of issues Migration Libya but of course the focus really being on those tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean as turkey pursues its desires for potential oil and Gas Resources in the region now of course it is doing so in waters that are disputed that are also claimed by greece and cyprus narrow michael met with the greek Prime Minister just before the summit began and michael has shown his support for greece he has said repeatedly throughout this crisis that turkey has in fact crossed a socalled red line and that was something that he repeated again today is this summit began in manama marco saying that turkey is a member of nato as is france as is greece but yet turkey doesnt seem to be holding nato values that was a matter or mark or sentiment he also said the turkey was basically acting not in accordance with any sort of International Law and that is why the french president has decided decided in august to send some rathole fighter jets and they will vessel to the Eastern Mediterranean region in support of greece as he said to try and monitor the situation on our hold international also we should be hearing from the french president and some of those other leaders a little bit later this evening european time all right a matushka will cross back to you a little later thank you very much for the time being and for that update from paris lets not speak to Matthew Bryza hes a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council hes also the former u. S. Ambassador and he was responsible for u. S. Relations with Turkey Greece and cyprus in the white house and the state department he is joining us from istanbul thanks very much for your time with us on the aljazeera news hour lets 1st talk about the french president why is he taking such a prominent role in this dispute between turkey and greece. Well thanks for having out barry i think that theres a history over the last year or so where turkey has decided to assert itself perceived rights in the whole Eastern Mediterranean the in ways that offend contrary to frances own interests for example in syria president mccrone was upset that turkey decided to intervene militarily in Northern Syria to push what it use as terrorists away from its border but he failed to see that actually turkey also fought russia to a standstill russia and the assad regime to a standstill in italy province in northwest syria and save the lives of tens of thousands of civilians who are under assault also in libya turkey and france are on opposite sides turkey is supporting the un recognized government of National Accord based in tripoli whereas france is supporting the government of the breakaway work of art. And so on different sides of that equation and then on top of that i think that france feels this compelled to uphold an e. U. Principle of solidarity among e. U. Member states which means that if greece actually and greece and cyprus are upset by would turkey is doing to try to change the status quo in the Eastern Mediterranean then france has an obligation to stand by is fellow known for its own right but ultimately what is he hoping to achieve hes had he said some tough words when it comes to turkey but whats the ultimate aim here. Yeah i agree terry i think what he means is that by embracing this concept of e. U. Solidarity. With his aggressive rhetoric even military moves sending france fight for each others guts and naval warships to the history mediterranean hes going to convince turkey to back down from another was used to try to help turkey think better and present everyone believe that the costs of continue to assert its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean are too high but i think at the end of the day thats a miscalculation because president our go on for better or for worse has made clear that turkey is not bluffing and it is it is going to continue asserting its rights and looking for oil and gas in what it claims as its all one exclusive Economic Zone in the Eastern Mediterranean with naval escorts which is going to rush up tension higher and higher so look ahead to this summit thats meant to be held at the end of september for us that is the e. U. Summit what will leaders decide then will they all be speaking in one voice we heard from the greek Prime Minister the greek Deputy Foreign minister excuse me who is now proposing that the e. U. Impose sanctions on turkey. Right so greece and cyprus and france are taking a very hard line and that yes they would like to see those sanctions new sanctions top st it was done to me but others in the e. U. Most importantly german chancellor on the metal are looking for a deescalation they want to see a real negotiation granted with the threat of sanctions against turkey to provide a a motivator but also positive incentives because chess americal understands that turkey is crucial in terms of wealth your last trip restricting the flow of migrants from turkey and beyond that from the middle east to burma ghana stand from north africa into europe you know several years ago turkey in the e. U. Reached an agreement whereby turkey pledged to restrict the flow of refugees into recess as again your last report said and i think chancellor merkel doesnt want to go away so the top leaders of the European Council like President Shall we shall are saying lets negotiate but at the same time have on the table the possibility that if the negotiations fail turkey will face sanctions so ken cooler heads prevail do you think. I do think so i think theres a a short Term Agreement that makes a lot of sense that actually do have turkey restricting some of its claims around the islands of crete and rhodes and greece doing the same with regard to another island right off the Turkish Post Office so i think that could buy some time and avoid the possibility of a military confrontation but in the long run all of this boils back down to the question of sites which we havent talked about yet and ultimately i think its incumbent on the e. U. To get reengaged on finding a long Term Solution to the question of the division of cyprus in reunifying cypress which has a Turkish Cypriot community in the north a greek Cypriot Community in the south which is recognized by the e. U. And all of the countries other than turkey which turkey rejects so i think theres a need to invest in a serious diplomatic process on the part of the e. U. The United Nations and i wish the United States i hope that the trunk administration will find some sort of time in this really crazy electoral year in washington to be able to focus on this issue all right well leave it there Matthew Bryza thank you very much for giving us your analysis from istanbul thank you so much terry. Now the un is saying the meetings in switzerland morocco between libyas rival administrations have come to a decisive turning point both sides have agreed to resume talks at the end of september to reac