The social networking site Twitter was abuzz with the hashtag #whereisBana on Sunday after the popular Twitter account of a 7-year-old girl, Bana al-Abed, from Syria disappeared from the site.
Bana's account is managed by her mother Fatemah as she tweets about the ordeal they face on a day-to-day basis in war-gripped Aleppo in Syria. Fatemah began tweeting from Bana's account in September, the account since then has gained huge popularity and the followers keep updated about their status.
As the Syrian army continues on their offensive against the rebels in the besieged Eastern Aleppo, the family has been documenting their struggle to survive in the region with constant bombing.
However, Bana's account has disappeared from Twitter. Shortly after Bana's last post, the account appeared to have been deleted.
"We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye. — Fatemah," the last post of the 7-year-old girl read.
Syrian government forces last week had taken six major rebel-held areas in Aleppo, causing more than 10,000 civilians to flee the violence-struck region as the forces pressed for an offensive. Rebels have, for months, been engaged in battle with the Syrian government and their Russian allies in eastern Aleppo, and want to topple the government.
Reports state that after the fresh onslaught by the Syria army around 31,000 people were displaced in the region with many without any shelter to seek refuge in. World leaders, including Turkish and German foreign ministers, have urged for a ceasefire in the region, however a halt in the ongoing violence is not expected anytime soon.
" I have no medicine, no home, no clean water. This will make me die even before a bomb kill me," Bena's account had stated last month.
The girl had also tweeted on November 27 that she had almost died after her home was destroyed by bombing, together with a picture of herself covered in dust. Al-abed reported that she had a minor injury and was hungry.
The girl had tweeted last week that she was worried that the Syrian army would target her family because of the Twitter posts.
