Istanbul: Seven-year-old Syrian girl Bana al-Abed, who came to international attention with her tweets giving a tragic account of the war in Aleppo, has written an open letter to new US President Donald Trump.
In her letter Bana, who was evacuated from the besieged city to Turkey in December, appealed to Trump to help the children of Syria, the BBC reported yesterday.
“I am part of the Syrian children who suffered from the Syrian war,” she wrote, according to a transcript of the letter her mother sent to the BBC.
She told Trump her school in Aleppo was destroyed by the bombing and some of her friends had died.
“Right now in Turkey, I can go out and enjoy. I can go to school although I didn’t yet. That is why peace is important for everyone including you.
“However, millions of Syrian children are not like me right now and suffering in different parts of Syria,” she wrote.
“You must do something for the children of Syria because they are like your children and deserve peace like you.”
At least 15,000 children are among the more than 300,000 people who have been killed in Syria’s six-year war between President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and rebel forces.
Through her tragic descriptions of life in besieged Aleppo on her @AlabedBana Twitter account, Bana became a symbol of the tragedy unfolding in Syria, although the government had slammed her and her mother’s nearly daily tweets as propaganda.
Turkey, which backs the Syrian rebels, is hosting some 2.7 million refugees from the conflict.
Syrian rebels and Assad’s government are holding peace talks in Kazakhstan but there have been no signs of a breakthrough.
Trump’s administration was invited to participate in the talks organised by key players Russia, Turkey and Iran but did not send a delegation.
Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that the new US president was open to conducting joint operations with Russia to combat the Islamic State group, who control significant territory in northern Syria.
PTI
