We Hold Our Breath As Little Girl Live Tweets About Deadly War in Aleppo

by Patty Affriol

Bana Alabed, a 7-year-old girl in Aleppo, has captured the world’s heart with her live tweets of war-torn Syria. Her Twitter account, managed by her mother, Fatemah, documents the unrelenting fear and terrifying violence she experiences on a day-to-day basis.

Over the weekend, Bana’s tweets became increasingly heart-breaking. On Sunday, she tweeted that she was under heavy bombardments and wrote, “When we die, keep talking for the 200,000 inside of us. BYE.”

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She updated her followers hours after, with news that her home was destroyed and that she witnessed death and almost died. She asked people to keep praying, as she was “between life and death,” as Syrian troops seized the northeastern part of Aleppo, placing the government in control of rebel-held areas for the first time in four years.

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As I waited and prayed for updates, I came to the sickening realization that Bana may have died in the bombings. Thankfully, a few hours later, Bana tweeted, “We are on the run, as many people killed in heavy bombardments. We are fighting for our lives. Still with you.”

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Bana is an adorable girl who loves Harry Potter and desperately wants to return to school. For the past few months, she has been live tweeting her accounts of the civil war occurring in her home of East Aleppo. With the help of her mother, she documents her fears and disbeliefs over what is happening around her.

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Through her twitter, the world sees the savagery and the ruthless reality of war through the eyes of a child.

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We applaud her hope and ability to survive in such a dark place.

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More than 900 people have fled East Aleppo, including 119 children, according to Russian News outlets. We don’t know yet where Bana is fleeing to and this point we do not know if she made it safely. All we can do it wait for updates from this brave little girl.

Bana, we are praying for you.

Top photo from Bana’s Twitter

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