A Twitter account run by a seven-year-old girl and her mother, narrating the plight of civilians in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, has added a touching personal dimension to the narratives coming from the city.
Bana Alabed and her mother Fatemah are tweeting from @AlabedBana since this September. “Hi I'm Bana I'm 7 years old girl. I and my mom are tweeting live from East Aleppo. Account managed by mom. (sic),” reads the bio of the account that has been verified by Twitter.
Bana’s tweets range from photos capturing her daily routine to short videos of the ravages of bombing.
She also posts some tough questions: “Why would they bomb us and kill innocent people everyday?”
Her account has more than 88,000 followers. She tried to go live on Twitter through Periscope on November 17, but couldn’t due to shelling.
“There's bombing now. I can't periscope, it's too dangerous. Pray for us,” read her tweet.
A video of an indisposed Bana was retweeted more than 2,100 times.
Some of her tweets are too graphic but unfortunately that’s the experience the world has given to a seven-year-old kid.
Tweets such as one below, might earn her a lot of support and consoling words, but peace in Aleppo seems to be a far cry.
Aleppo is hot-bed of armed conflict between Russia-supported Bashar Assad government and Syrian rebels who have been receiving U.S. aid. Though there aren’t any confirmed presence of Islamic State members in the city yet, Syria is also battling IS in its soil.
