A baby girl has been born with shrapnel lodged in her head in Syria after her pregnant mother suffered horrific injuries in a rocket attack.
The woman, named locally as Amira, had to undergo an emergency caesarean section at a hospital in Aleppo.
Graphic footage posted on Facebook by the Aleppo City Medical Council showed doctors, delivering the lifeless and pale child, who had a piece of shrapnel that had pierced her mother's womb embedded in her forehead.
Doctors Save Syrian Baby After Shrapnel Hits MotherA Syrian mother was hit with shrapnel, leaving her pregnancy in doubt. That's when the doctors stepped in.
Posted by AJ+ on Friday, 18 September 2015
Medics could be seen frantically rubbing the baby and laying her down on a table to remove the shard of metal, when the infant finally started to whimper and show signs of life.
Read more: Teenage refugee dies on Eurotunnel tracks
Comment: Why so many Syrians are leaving their country
Footage reveals human impact of Syrian civil war
Doctors suggested the name Amel, meaning Hope, in honour of the child’s miraculous survival.
“She wasn't even born, and she was targeted,” said Dr Mohammed Tabbaa, from the Syria Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA), told CNN. “I mean, that's the situation. I'm hoping she'll have a better future.”
الطفلة أمل التي أصيبت بشظية فوق عينها وهي في بطن أمها كما يظهر هي وأمها في صحة جيدة 23-9-2015
Posted by مشفى م1 الميداني M1hospital on Tuesday, 22 September 2015
An update posted on the M1 hospital’s Facebook page on Wednesday showed mother and baby resting in bed and said they were both in good health.
Amira and her three older children were injured in the air strike on 18 September, CNN reported, which was blamed on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime by medics.
The footage of the birth could not be independently verified and the perpetrator of the alleged bombing was unclear.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is divided between opposition fighters, the Syrian government and Kurdish forces and sees frequent bombardment and street battles.
Bombardment started as the country’s civil war intensified at the end of 2013 and residential areas, busy markets, bus stations, schools and hospitals have been targeted by airstrikes and barrel bombing.
