Five countries to send Israel firefighting planes

Russia, Croatia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus will be sending over six planes to support Israel’s own fleet of aerial firefighters in response to an appeal from Jerusalem. The first planes are due to land early Thursday.. According to first e4stimates, there were 200 fires mostly in central and eastern Israel in the last two days, and many are still blazing. With arson suspected in many places, soldiers, police and border guards are patrolling open areas outside towns and villages as security.