Syrian sisters become voice of E. Ghouta on Twitter

EASTERN GHOUTA/ANKARA

Alaa and Noor, two young sisters from Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta district, are informing the world of their difficult circumstances through their joint Twitter account.

Eight-year-old Alaa and ten-year-old Noor voice the pains and hopes of Eastern Ghouta’s children in tweets they write in English.

The pair’s Twitter account -- @Noor_and_Alaa -- currently boasts more than a thousand followers.

The sisters were influenced by seven-year-old Twitter activist Bana Alabed, who captured the world’s attention last year with her Twitter posts from Syria’s war-torn city of Aleppo.

In their Twitter posts, Alaa and Noor share stories and photos of their daily lives in regime-besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Assisted by their mother, an English-language teacher, the sisters frequently issue appeals to end the crippling blockade of the district.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Noor said she tries to convey the situation faced by the besieged district’s children.

“They don’t have anything to eat. They can’t find water or medicine,” she said, noting that several local children had died as a result of the ongoing siege.

“We haven’t been able to go to school for a while, because warplanes continue to target our schools,” she added.

Recalling Bana’s efforts to draw attention to the blockade, Noor voiced hoped that the world would hear their voices.

Noor’s sister, Alaa, also expressed hope that the blockade might soon be lifted and she would be able to go back to school in a safe environment.

“I want to eat apples, bananas and delicious food,” she said.

Expressing her love for Bana, she added: “I hope our voices reach the world as Bana’s voice did.”

The two little girls’ mother, Shams al-Khatib, also lamented their ongoing plight in Eastern Ghouta.

“There is no food, water or electricity in the region,” she said. “Children are starving to death.”

A suburb of Damascus, Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden.

Nevertheless, regime forces have continued to attack the district, resulting in frequent civilian casualties.

According to local civil defense sources, at least 160 civilians were killed by regime forces in the area between Nov. 14 and Dec. 3.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting and more than 10 million displaced, according to claims by the UN.

Reporting by Adham Kako:Writing by Sena Guler