Syria: Tweeter Girl Leaves Healthily East of Aleppo

Bana’s tweeter account with over 344,000 followers released this message yesterday “I Escaped from East Aleppo”.

The tweets that were mostly written in English by Bana and her mother on their tweeter accounts had attracted public opinions to the frustrating life of residents in Eastern district of Aleppo while they were under terrorist groups’ control.

Bana and her mother, Fatemah, left healthily Eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo and are now in al-Rashedeen district.

“Bana and I want to tell the entire world how much all people in East Aleppo are suffering from bombs,” Fatemah said in a video after they were evacuated, adding that “There is no life there. So we create our twitter to tell the entire world what’s happening there. We are happy because our voice reached to the entire world. I am sad because I leave my country. I leave my soul there. I want to live free there (in my country). I do not like to be a refugee in other countries.”

“I want a good future for my kids but this is the matter here because they make us leave our country. We can’t stay there because there are a lot of bombs and no clean water no medicine,” she added in the same video.

However some have raised questions over a possible agenda behind the Twitter account. Despite the understandably faltering internet connection in the city, Bana’s account was regularly tweeting and posting videos.

At one stage the account was deactivated, leaving her supporters distraught as they believed she had been killed. The hashtag, #WhereIsBana was used as people hoped for good news. However, the next day the account was re-activated along with tweet saying that the young girl was fine.

Within two days of setting up the account, she had used #HolocaustAleppo, #MassacreInAleppo, #StopAleppoMassacre and tweeted at Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Barack Obama and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Her tweets became famous, and included the call for international intervention, and many gloomy tweets that predicted her own death by Syrian government forces in Eastern Aleppo.

Fatemah twitted on December 4, “We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.”

While the western media named that message as “the Harrowing farewell message,” the mother of Bana, who was informing followers about heavy bombardments of Aleppo continuously and was repeating goodbye messages, wrote again in December 5 that “Under attack. Nowhere to go, every minute feels like death. Pray for us. Goodbye”.

She wrote in her account on December 7 that “our house and area fall to the army. We are trapped under bombs that didn’t stop since last night”.

Surprisingly, Bana’s account released her photo while smiling on December 8 and then she wrote in her account, “Good evening my friends. What are you doing today? I am happy I lost two more teeth.”

Bana’s mother wrote a few hours later, “There’s Internet in East Aleppo. There’s solar in E. Aleppo. There’s Bana in E. Aleppo who’s suffering & tweeting. Good night.”

Bana’s tweet account was continuously informing followers about advances of Syrian Army troops or was predicting her death to influence the followers.

“The army is so near now. I don’t know what to do. Only way to flee is to regime side which I fear coz they will kill me.”

“Final message – I am very sad no one is helping us in this world, no one is evacuating me & my daughter.”

“Final message – people are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now & still alive.”

A Syrian activist Maytham Al-Ashkar had also said that “… The girl is just a face, a tool used by the British intelligence,” adding that “and I am saying British, because of the strong relationship between the Bana’s account and the White Helmets, who are funded and sponsored by the UK”.

Aleppo is to be declared a completely liberated city by Damascus any moment now as the Syrian authorities and terrorist groups stationed in the Eastern parts of Aleppo reached an agreement to evacuate militants from the region in return for relocating thousands of besieged civilians from Fua’a and Kafraya in Idlib to government-ruled territories.

The Syrian army units started special operations in Aleppo after several humanitarian pauses declared by Damascus and Moscow to give a chance to the civilian population as well as the militants to leave the Eastern parts of the city through 8 corridors.

District after district have fallen into the hands of the Syrian army soldiers and their allies in the city of Aleppo, as the pro-government troops have recaptured nearly all of the blocks and districts in the Northern and Southern parts of Eastern Aleppo.

Also, tens of thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children and newborn babies, have also left the Eastern part of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in recent days, while thousands of militants laid down their arms and left Eastern Aleppo through the special corridor.

Over the recent months, Aleppo has been a battlefield between government forces and numerous terrorist groups.