(The Guardian)- Bana al-Abed, the seven-year-old girl whose tweets from Aleppo gave devastating insights into the Syrian war, has pleaded with Donald Trump to “do something for the children of Syria” in an open letter.
Bana amassed hundreds of thousands of followers for her messages from war-torn Aleppo sent with the help of her mother, Fatemah. The family were evacuated to Turkey in December and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan just before Christmas.
From her new home Bana has written to the US president pleading with him to take action to save Syrian children like her. Her open letter was shared with the BBC by her mother.
Dear Donald Trump,
My name is Bana Alabed and I am a seven years old Syrian girl from Aleppo.
I lived in Syria my whole life before I left from besieged East Aleppo on December last year. I am part of the Syrian children who suffered from the Syrian war.
But right now, I am having a peace in my new home of Turkey. In Aleppo, I was in school but soon it was destroyed because of the bombing.
Some of my friends died.
I am very sad about them and wish they were with me because we would play together by right now. I couldn’t play in Aleppo, it was the city of death.
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. They are suffering because of adult people.
I know you will be the president of America, so can you please save the children and people of Syria? You must do something for the children of Syria because they are like your children and deserve peace like you.
If you promise me you will do something for the children of Syria, I am already your new friend.
I am looking forward to what you will do for the children of Syria.
The BBC reported that Bana had written the letter in the days before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump’s position on Syria is not clear but he has made no secret of his admiration for the Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who supports the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in its six-year war against rebellion.
The Pentagon – now run by Trump appointee James Mattis – issued a statement on Monday that denied US warplanes had conducted a joint combat mission with Russia in Syria but the White House signalled it was open to doing so in principle.
The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said Trump would “work with any country that shares our interest in defeating Isis”, including “Russia or anyone else”.
Two days of peace talks sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Kazakhstan this week concluded with a resolution to set up a trilateral monitoring body to enforce the ceasefire that came into effect in December.
More than 300,000 people – including at least 150,000 children – have been killed in the Syrian conflict, with thousands of others displaced.
The Syrian Network For Human Rights reported that nearly 2,000 children were among the estimated 16,913 civilians who died in 2016 alone
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