Seven-year-old 'Twitter girl' Bana among those 'evacuated' from Aleppo

A seven-year-old who became a symbol of the tragedy unfolding in Syria by tweeting daily of the horrors in Aleppo was among thousands evacuated from the battered Syrian city.
3 min read
19 Dec, 2016
Bana became a symbol of Syria's tragedy tweeting daily horrors from Aleppo [Twitter]

Seven-year-old Bana al-Abed whose tweets offered a tragic account of the war in Syria was among thousands evacuated from the battered Syrian city of Aleppo, a Turkish NGO announced on social media.

"This morning @AlabedBana was also rescued from #Aleppo with her family. We warmly welcomed them," the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) wrote on its Twitter account, sharing an IHH aid worker's selfie picture with the girl.

An IHH spokesman confirmed to AFP that the young girl was among the first batch of evacuees on Friday morning, and was at Rashidin region at the moment.

"She is likely to be transferred to the camps in Idlib province," he said.

The Islamic charity IHH is playing a large role in the transport of aid for Aleppo as well as the transfer of evacuated Syrians into camps in the Idlib province near the Turkish border.

So called evacuations from the rebel-held areas of Aleppo has restarted after further delays, which put on hold the ceasefire agreement brokered by Turkey and Russia.

Over 3,000 people - in two convoys of around 20 vehicles - left eastern sections of Aleppo on Monday, after around 350 people got out during the night, marking the first departures since Friday.

Tarakji Ahmad, president of Syrian American Medical Society, also posted a picture of Bana, with an aid worker.

With the help of her mother Fatemah, Bana had been posting heart-rending tweets in English on the daily horrors in eastern Aleppo, garnering more than 320,000 followers.

Through her account, Bana posted pictures of the destruction in Aleppo including her rubble-littered street.

Bana's last tweet with her mother Fatemah before the evacuation made an appeal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for putting a fragile ceasefire back on track after frequent delays.

Cavusoglu responded to Bana and her mother on Monday.

Despited being slammed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, Bana's followers have tweeted messages of support and concern.

Regime supporters have made repeated attempts to deny the existence of the girl who painted a grim picture of the regime siege and bombing of East Aleppo.

Before she disappeared from Twitter earlier this month as Syrian regime forces edged closer to her home, she posted a foreboding last tweet that read: "We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world."

A few hours later, her Twitter account was deleted without explanation.

Fraught with worry over the fate of Bana and her family, her followers launched the hashtag #WhereisBana to raise awareness of her plight.

But her father later confirmed that she and her family were safe after fleeing their home, which was damaged by bombardment.

"The army got really close to our neighbourhood. We fled to another part of east Aleppo and the family is doing well," he said at the time, adding that "the internet connection is very weak here".

At least 15,000 children are among the more than 300,000 people who have been killed in Syria's five-year war.

Agencies contributed to this report.