Syrian 'Twitter girl' safely evacuated from Aleppo

Alabed has been posting, with her mother's help, heart-rending and emotionally strong tweets about life in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo.

Damascus, Dec 20: Seven-year-old Bana Alabed, who tweets with the help of her mother Fatemah about the war-torn Syria, has been safely evacuated from the city of Aleppo, media reports said. According to a report in CNET on Monday, the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) confirmed that Alabed and her family were among many Syrian civilians, including at least 2,700 children, who were allowed to leave rebel-held zones in northern Syria over the weekend.

Alabed has been posting, with her mother's help, heart-rending and emotionally strong tweets about life in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. Alabed and her mother have garnered more than 211,000 followers since late September as they tweet regularly about war in Aleppo, including the story of her house being destroyed. Alabed was pictured in a tweet posted by SAMS President Ahmad Tarakji.

Earlier this month, when Syrian government forces neared their home, the family fled for life and the tweets started to appear less. The account had tweeted: "We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.- Fatemah."

There was no update for the next 24-hours, prompting her followers to launch a hashtag campaign "WhereIsBana". A tweet later on read: "Under attack. Nowhere to go, every minute feels like death. Pray for us. Goodbye - Fatemah."

IANS