Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Russia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus to send firefighting aircraft to help fight a fire near the port city of Haifa, in what is being called a national disaster. Netanyahu, in terse comments during a live broadcast to the nation shortly after local time 18:00 (1600 GMT), commended the firefighters and offered his condolences to the families of the victims. 'We will have to learn the lesson, in order to be able to deal with similar future events,' Netanyahu said. There are three major areas ablaze, according to Channel Two television, as of local time 18:30 (1630 GMT). 