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A SEVEN-YEAR-old Syrian girl whose Twitter account from Aleppo gained international attention has fled her home amid heavy fighting, but she and her family are safe for now, according to her father.
With her mother’s help, Bana al-Abed had been posting heart-rending tweets in English on life in the besieged eastern districts of Syria’s Aleppo.
But as Syrian government forces edged closer to their home in recent days, the Abed family fled and the Twitter updates slowed.
“Our house was damaged in bombardment,” her father Ghassan told AFP by phone from east Aleppo, two-thirds of which has been seized by advancing government forces.
“The army got really close to our neighbourhood. We fled to another part of east Aleppo and the family is doing well,” he said, adding that “the internet connection is very weak here”.
Since late September, Bana and her mother Fatemah have garnered more than 211,000 followers by tweeting regular updates on battered Aleppo.
Pictures of massive white columns of smoke, captioned “Aleppo right now. We (are) so scared,” are interspersed with shots of Bana reading or scrawling in a notebook.
The account captured the attention of novelist JK Rowling, who responded to a picture of Bana poring over an electronic copy of the “Harry Potter” series.
‘Stalling’
Meanwhile, Russia’s top diplomat has accused Washington of backtracking on planned talks in Geneva over a rebel pullout from Syria’s Aleppo to “buy time” for those battling leader Bashar al-Assad.
“It looks like an attempt to buy time for the rebels to have a breather, take a pause and replenish their reserves,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists.
He also said Moscow had the impression “a serious discussion with our American partners isn’t working out”.
Lavrov said yesterday that Russian and US experts were to meet in Switzerland either today or tomorrow to discuss a proposal put forward by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry proposed last week a complete rebel withdrawal from the war-torn eastern sector of Syria’s second city.
But today he acknowledged that Washington had said it would not take part in tomorrow’s talks and had withdrawn the suggestions made by Kerry.
Rebels in east Aleppo have already dismissed any talk of them withdrawing, but Lavrov said they risked being annihilated if they refused to pull out following any deal between Russia and the US.
Russia and the US are on opposite sides of the conflict in Syria with Moscow backing Assad with airpower and Washington pushing for the strongman to go.
Regime forces have so far seized two-thirds of Aleppo’s rebel-held east since starting an operation to recapture the entire city in mid-November.
The assault has raised an international outcry, but Russia and China on yesterday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the city.
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Fake
Please do a poll who thinks
propaganda
or real
@John B mc G: Let’s call for a fact check. Internet working in a war zone is fairly unlikely.
Are 7 year olds allowed twitter accounts? Doesn’t that violate their terms and conditions.
What if it is proven be real?
@John Jones: Some battery on her phone though!
@John Jones: The above story is embarrassing to put it mildly. A growing number of people do not believe this fake news the MSM tries to brainwash us with. This is the reason why they wish to ban or curb all outlets of alternative media.
Peter Hitchens doesn’t agree with BBC propaganda on Syria. In 2009, Hitchens was shortlisted for Foreign Reporter of the Year in the British Press Awards, and in 2010, in recognition of his foreign reporting, he was awarded the Orwell Prize. ( Short Video)
THAT MOMENT A BBC GUEST DOESN’T GO ALONG WITH THE PROPAGANDA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwjw0vkV7_I
@Pat O’Dwyer: Alternative being?? Breitbart? It’s called confirmation bias Pat, No one thinks the news they don’t agree with is right. But there are 2 sides to every story.
Anyone who falls for this kind of stuff is a fool.
Amazing that they still have functioning WiFi.
Mobile data is not dependent on WiFi. In saying that I find this story unlikely
Yeah to be honest this twitter account smacks of propaganda to me!
@Dave I’d say the whole family are signed up to the Vodafone red data plan alright.
@Brendan McGill: Watch a documentary on Netflix called The White Helmets, This is real everyday life in Aleppo right now.
Netflix and white helmets pure propaganda
@Pablo Lord: So anything that doesn’t align with the alt right is propaganda now?? Is that how it works?? The internet has broken so many of you.
@Rob Cahill: White helmets : Volunteers by day , terrorists by night.
“EXCLUSIVE: The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes Fake ‘White Helmets’ as Terrorist-Linked Imposters.
“I am a director not only of a Syrian Civil Defence Unit, but of brave human beings, volunteers who risk their lives, despite the terrorism that is invading Syria, to maintain security for Syria. I give thanks from my heart for the courage of my men who have lost their comrades in terrorist attacks but they keep working despite the risks. They are true soldiers, their equipment and their spirit are their only weapons”
~ Director of Tartous’ REAL Syria Civil Defence
Did I hear a pin drop? The real Syria Civil Defence? Are the west’s iconized ‘White Helmets’ not the only emergency first-responders inside Syria?
For the REAL Syria Civil Defence you call 113 inside Syria. There is no public number for the White Helmets. Why not? Why does this multi-million dollar US & NATO state-funded first repsonder ‘NGO,’ with state of the art equipment supplied by the US and the EU via Turkey, have no central number for civilians to call when the “bombs fall”?
Before we introduce the real Syria Civil Defence, who are Syria’s real ICDO certified civil fire and rescue organisation, let’s first take a closer look at the imposters; terrorists in white hats, and agents of war – NATO’s pseudo ‘NGO’ construct, embedded exclusively in terrorist-held parts of Syria…
Read more :
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/09/23/exclusive-the-real-syria-civil-defence-expose-natos-white-helmets-as-terrorist-linked-imposters/
Vanessa Beeley, and Eva Bartlett, a British and a Canadian journalist who have both spent much time on the ground in Syria, report the following shocking revelations about the White Helmets.
CrossTalk: White Helmets, Really?
The White Helmets: a heartfelt humanitarian NGO or an elaborate and cynical western PR stunt promoting illegal regime change in Syria? Does the wearing of white helmets mean they are the good guys supporting a just cause?
@Rob Cahill… Alt right? I’m actually Centre Left myself, but no I don’t believe western media is being honest on this one and I believe the white Helmets are a dodgy propaganda organization.
@rob cahill man I’m far from alt right stop using made up terms the Clinton camp are using to blame their election loss on. There is no such thing.
@Pablo Lord: Of course there is, I’ve watched completely sane posters on this website and other go from reasonable people to worse than you would get on Fox news threads in the last few years. They make some of the proper looeys seem sane at this stage.. (Well not sane but saner) The Guardian has an article about a guy that got caught up in it but managed to get out before turning. Guess what.. The Alt right debunked it as untrue.. It’s beyond ridiculous now, Every article posted on every site has conspiracy theories lashed at it from the get go. It’s getting harder and harder to use the internet it’s gotten so polluted with Keyboard warriors trying to save the world.
She will surely be a photographer when she gets older, the way she captured that explosion and centre it is truly a gift! For a 7 year old that is!! Little or no food or water, no electricity, no safe shelter but yet we have a 7 year old child on twitter reporting the war, this absolutely reeks. FAKE NEWS ALERT!
A verified 7 year old who’s literate in both reading and writing English is posting to Twitter from a war zone in a society where they don’t even learn English at such a young age. Reality check. She’s nice and cosy in the Russian & Syrian built refugee centers no mainstream media tells you about while some fat worthless western social justice warrior pretends to be this 7 year old so they can post anti government propaganda. They literally want to help ISIS take over Aleppo.
A seven year old Syrian girl knows the difference between “its” and “it’s”? It looks like an adult trying too hard to make it look like it’s a child writing it.
@Gary: It says with the help of her Mother in the article.
I have my severe doubts about a seven year old Arabic speaker blogging in English. I know that it is a very complicated situation, with Saudi Arabia and others paying Islamic fanatics. On the other hand Assad is no saint. The family is living in an Al Qaeida enclave. They have the option of moving to the Government controlled side of town.
Meanwhile Israel is delighted to see the surrounding countries implode.
Are people actually falling for this. Jesus Christ.
Journal what about the attack on Russian field hospital yesterday.
She is fleeing the wrong direction … staying on side with a bunch of jahadi is going to end bad. Very bad.
This is what war, petrol prices and globalisation looks like for the real side
How does she have internet or mobile coverage in a warzone ? My gut is telling me it’s bull / propaganda
Can’t imagine the terror for families like Banas, thanks to the miserable cowards bombarding places like Aleppo. Hope she makes it out ok
they are bombing Al qaeda and Isis what wrong with that ? the only reason the ” rebels” are still there, is American backing
Why is the journal pushing this nonsense? It gets them clicks from people who believe it and nay sayers who say it’s bull. Despicable carry on
The whole thing was started with the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey even the US as they are the ones who started this and everything since lies at the feet of them, full stop.
Then look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz-s2AAh06I
Now the West is supporting Al Queda…
https://www.rt.com/news/369204-eu-pay-assad-power/
Are we that blind?
Syrian religious leaders on a recent visit to Dublin dispel MSM garbage.
have your say