Dubai: Social media was set ablaze after civilians were caught in the crossfire between government and rebel forces battling for control over the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Since April 22, 244 civilians, including 43 children and 27 women, have been killed, according to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
#Aleppo, #Syria and Arabic hashtags that translated to ‘Aleppo is calling out to you’, ‘Save Aleppo’ and ‘Aleppo is burning’ have been trending on Twitter since.
Users on Twitter and Facebook have also changed their profile picture to a red square to show solidarity with the suffering of Aleppo’s residents.
Twitter user, @KhaledBeydoun, posted several tweets of the rescue operations, with one photograph showing a teenage boy handing over a crying baby, saying: “A young life saving a younger life. #Aleppo #Syria.”
Lebanese singer Elissar Khoury posted from her official handle @elissakh, writing: “This world is so cruel that it let #Aleppo burn alone and Syrians die ... God bless Syria, my mother’s country.”
Another user @sakirkhader posted a video of a woman cradling her daughter, writing: “Heartbroken #Syrian mother mourns loss of her daughter killed in yesterday’s regime strike on #Aleppo’s old city.”
Users also paid tribute to Dr Mohammad Waseem Maaz, a popular Syrian paediatrician who was killed in an air strike on Al Quds Hospital.
On Facebook, user Mohammad Adnan posted a photograph writing: “A boy crying near his only brother who was killed in an airstrike on a hospital in #Aleppo. He lost his father, too.”
— The writer is a freelance journalist with Gulf News.
