A seven-year-old Syrian girl, living with the horrors of the war in Aleppo, has been granted her wish of being able to read the Harry Potter series of books.
Author J.K. Rowling answered Bana al-Abed‘s call, after the girl tweeted the writer saying that she would like to read the books. But books are hard to come by in war-ravaged Aleppo, where deadly air strikes from Russian and Syrian allies are a daily event.
READ MORE: Syrian girl, 7, with viral Twitter account tours devastated Aleppo
“Hi @jk_rowling I watched Harry Potter movie, Bana would like to read the book,” her mother Fatemah, who helps her daughter run the account, tweeted Monday.
Rowling initially responded to the tweet saying, “I hope you do read the book, because I think you’d like it. Sending you lots of love.” After Bana’s mother responded saying they can’t get the books in Syria, many other users chimed in alerting Rowling to the importance of her account, which they use to shed light on the human price of the war in Syria.
Then, on Wednesday, Bana tweeted again thanking Rowling for the book. Rowling later responded to the tweet telling users that she had sent Bana an ebook copy of the famous wizard series.
Intense air strikes have battered the eastern part of the city since Tuesday, when the Syrian army and its allies resumed operations after a pause lasting weeks. They launched ground attacks against insurgent positions on Friday.
READ MORE: Life in war-torn Aleppo documented through Twitter account of 7-year-old girl
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 48 people, including at least five children, were killed in eastern Aleppo on Saturday by dozens of air strikes and barrel bombs and dozens of artillery rounds. That brings the number of people killed by the increased bombardment of Aleppo and the surrounding countryside over the past five days to about 180, including 97 in the city’s besieged eastern sector, the observatory added.
On Tuesday, Bana shared a new video showing some of the damage of the latest bombardment in Aleppo.
WATCH ABOVE: Syrian girl tours Aleppo after intense air strikes
The young girl’s Twitter account went viral in October. Every day she and her mother, Fatemah, go online to share the horrors of living in Aleppo through pictures, videos and text updates describing the devastation surrounding them.
“I want to let the world know about our life here,” Fatemah told Global News in a direct message on Twitter in October.
“I want people to know that we are suffering here and [they] should stand up for us.”
— With files from Reuters
Comments