Bana Alabed, Aleppo girl, pleads to Michelle Obama for help

A 7-year-old Syrian girl who’s been tweeting from war-torn Aleppo with the help of her mother has reached out to first lady Michelle Obama requesting help.

Bana Alabed and her mother, Fatemah, have been writing heartbreaking dispatches about their daily lives amid the protracted Syrian Civil War. Their Twitter feed has gained more than 300,000 followers since it was launched in September.

On Friday morning, NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, who previously interviewed Fatemah via webcam, shared a video on social media that the mother and daughter recorded that they hope Michelle Obama will ultimately see. In the 44-second video, Fatemah tries to appeal to Obama on an emotional level, mother to mother.

“Hello, this is Fatemah. This message is for the first lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama. I would like to tell you that we are still here in East Aleppo,” she says. “I talk to you as a mother. I know that you have two beautiful daughters and I have three children — one of them is Bana. I implore you to help us and make us in a safer place because we are so afraid, please.”

Then Bana adds, “Hello Mrs. Obama. Please help us.”

There was widespread concern for Bana’s safety earlier this month when her Twitter account mysteriously disappeared. When it came back online, the Alabeds tweeted that they were once again in the midst of bombardments. Their social media activity juxtaposes typical childhood moments — like losing teeth or reading “Harry Potter” books — with the horrors of being a civilian caught in the crosshairs of war.

Her dispatches have drawn frequent comparisons to Anne Frank’s diary during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. But it’s worth noting that there are key differences, perhaps the most salient being that Bana’s words are being read in real-time whereas Anne’s were read after her death and the Allied victory over the Axis powers.

Though Bana has endeared herself to thousands of people throughout the world, she is just one of the many children in harm’s way amid the devastation of the Syrian civil war.

On Wednesday, children at an orphanage in eastern Aleppo shot a video pleading for help fleeing the city. An evacuation of eastern Aleppo ground to a halt on Friday as another cease-fire between rebels and government loyalists fell apart, with accusations of duplicity coming from all sides.

Fatemah and Bana Alabed both tweeted additional pleas for help escaping the danger on Friday morning.

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