A three-year-old Syrian girl who was taught by her father to laugh at the sound of bombs so she wouldn’t be afraid of them has reached safety in Turkey, it was revealed today.
A video of Salwa Mohammad playing a game as warplanes dropped bombs near her home in Idlib province went viral last month.
Following an outpouring of sympathy, the Turkish government helped her and her parents cross at the Cilvegozu border gate. In a new video, Salwa dances around her Turkish home in a pink princess dress, no longer having to listen to the sounds of civil war.
Nearly a million people have fled to the Syrian-Turkish border since December, amid heavy fighting between Turkish-backed rebels and Russian-backed Syrian government forces.
Salwa’s father Abdullah, 32, came up with the game as a unique way to cope with the air strikes. He used the sound of children setting off fireworks to show her that loud noises could be fun, and said the game helped his daughter stay calm and happy.
In a video clip, Mr Mohammad can be heard asking his daughter: “Is this a jet or a bomb?” She replies: “A bomb... When it comes we will laugh.” The UN’s top humanitarian official for Syria last night warned the crisis in north-west Idlib is “probably the biggest ... we have in the world today”.
Kevin Kennedy said that despite a massive relief operation, the needs were overwhelming and “we have a long, long way to go”.
Ankara has sent thousands of troops into the area, but has not been able to stop the Syrian government offensive to retake Idlib.
Today the military said two Turkish soldiers had been killed in a Syrian government attack. More than 50 Turkish troops have died in the past month.
