A BBC correspondent has shared the emotional moment she was reunited with a Syrian refugee family she last saw in war-torn Damascus two years ago.
Lyse Doucet, the corporation's veteran Chief International Correspondent, surprisingly bumped into the family when reporting at a picnic for Syrian refugees in Toronto, Canada. While filming, she saw the Sabbagh family who she last saw in the Syrian capital in 2014 when she was reporting on the civil war which has ravaged the nation for five years.
In a clip of the reunion which was broadcast on BBC World News, Doucet runs up to a woman and emotionally embraces her. She then greets the children and welcomes them to Canada, lifting a little boy into her arms.
In 2014, Doucet visited the family at the home where an 11-year-old girl called Daad told the reporter she was suffering from nightmares, living in fear and was scared of the future after witnessing so much horror and destruction in her country. Now, showing Doucet her new bedroom, she says she leads a happy life and no longer has the nightmares.
Canada has welcomed over 30,000 refugees in the last year alone and at the beginning of the year, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, personally greeted refugee children arriving at Toronto Pearson airport.
By contrast, last year David Cameron pledged the UK would take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over a five-year-period. Over the weekend, thousands of British protesters marched on Downing Street to demand the UK takes in more as thousands of desperate refugees continue to die making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.
