Young Syrian Twitter Star Writes Plea to Trump

'Can you please save the children?' asks Bana Alabed
By Linda Hervieux,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2017 12:15 PM CST
Syrian Girl's Plea to Trump: Will You Save the Children?
Bana Alabed has 362,000 followers on Twitter.   (Twitter)

A 7-year-old Syrian girl whose tweets from Aleppo showcased the horrors of war has appealed to President Trump to "do something for the children of Syria." Now living in Turkey, Bana Alabed wrote a letter to the new president days before his inauguration, the BBC reports. "Dear Donald Trump," she writes, "I lived in Syria my whole life (and) ... I am part of the Syrian children who suffered from the Syrian war." Although she is now safe, "millions of Syrian children are not like me," she writes. "They are suffering. … I know you will be the president of America, so can you please save the children and people of Syria?" Bana's mother, Fatemah, sent the text to the BBC. (Read the full letter here.)

Bana opted to make her plea in writing after seeing Trump "many times on the TV," Fatemah says. Like Trump, Bana has a penchant for tweeting—she has 362,000 followers—although hers drove home the terror in besieged Aleppo before her family was evacuated last month as government forces regained control of the city. More than 300,000 people, including 150,000 children, have been killed in the six-year civil war, reports the Guardian. Trump's position on Syria is not yet known. A White House spokesman said the president would "work with any country" committed to fighting ISIS, per the Guardian. The Pentagon, meanwhile, denied on Monday that US warplanes aided a Russian mission in Syria. Russia supports the government of President Bashar al-Assad. (Bana "befriended" JK Rowling.)

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