Seven-year-old Bana-al-Abed, who had become famous for tweeting from war-torn Aleppo, was safely evacuated from the city. Her account, which has also been verified by Twitter, was set up in September and has more than 300,000 followers.
I escaped from East #Aleppo. - Bana
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 19, 2016
The tweets, which were written by her mother Fatemah and her, were about life under siege in eastern Aleppo.
The photos and videos that they put up revealed the horror of daily life in eastern Aleppo, with constant bombing and little aid, as Bashar Assad, assisted by Russia, seized the area from the rebel forces.
My name is Bana, I'm 7 years old. I am talking to the world now live from East #Aleppo. This is my last moment to either live or die. - Bana
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 13, 2016
Our new house is hit with a rocket. This is the worst bombing I have ever seen. We are already convinced we will die. - Fatemah #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 10, 2016
I am sick now, I have no medicine, no home, no clean water. This will make me die even before a bomb kill me. - Bana #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 1, 2016
The President of the Syrian American Medical Society, Ahmad Tarakji said that NGO workers were assisting Alabed and other children.
.@AlabedBana and many children arrived to #Aleppo countryside. @sams_usa @UOSSM and partners arr coordinating the response plan there. pic.twitter.com/k3iAohYbFY
— Ahmad Tarakji, MD (@tarakjiahmad) December 19, 2016
“I want to tell all the world how much kids and all people in east Aleppo are suffering from bombs and everything because there is no life there, so we created our Twitter to tell all the world what’s happened there,” Fatemah told the Syria-based &feature=youtu.be">Qasioun News Agency on Monday.
Mother and daughter would use the account to reach out to leaders, beseeching them to provide help.
Dear @MevlutCavusoglu & @rt_erdogan please please please make this ceasefire work & get us out now. We are so tired. - Fatemah #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 18, 2016
She also reached out to Michelle Obama and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry. Author J.K. Rowling also sent her the complete digital set of the Harry Potter series.
A group of 47 orphans have also been evacuated and are now in Aleppo’s western countryside. They will be relocated to Turkey. They are among thousands of children who have been evacuated from eastern Aleppo in the past few days, according to UNICEF.
Also Read: CNN’s Arwa Damon on her Incredible Initiative to Help Children in Conflict Areas