An infant child born in northern Syria during this month\u2019s devastating earthquake has reunited with her aunt and uncle, after her parents and siblings died in the disaster.<\/p>\n
Footage circulating widely on social media after the quake showed a rescuer scrambling down a hill of rubble carrying a tiny dust-covered baby.<\/p>\n
The newborn was later identified as the child of Abdallah and Afraa Mleihan, who died in the earthquake along with their other children in the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Syria\u2019s Aleppo province.<\/p>\n
The infant was treated in the Jihan Hospital further west in the Afrin district, also opposition-held, until medics could verify the identities of her relatives.<\/p>\n
A baby girl who was born during a deadly earthquake earlier this month lies in the Jihan Hospital in Afrin, Syria on February 18, 2023.\u2014Reuters
\nHer paternal aunt Hala and uncle by marriage Khalil Al-Sawadi finally have picked up their niece \u2014 whom they named Afraa, after her deceased mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis girl means so much to us because there\u2019s no one left of her family besides this baby. She\u2019ll be a memory for me, for her aunt and for all of our relatives in the village of her mother and father,\u201d Sawadi told Reuters.<\/p>\n
He was carrying Afraa, wrapped in a pink blanket, in one arm and his own newborn daughter Ataa, wrapped in blue, in the other. Ataa was born three days after the earthquake and Sawadi said he would raise them together.<\/p>\n
Khalil Al-Sawadi, the uncle-by-marriage of a baby girl born during a deadly earthquake earlier this month, holds her, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria February 18, 2023. \u2014 Reuters
\n\u201cThere were legal procedures to confirm the genetic relation, as well as a DNA test,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n
More than 5,800 people have died across Syria as a result of the Feb 6 earthquake, the bulk in the opposition-held north which had already suffered years of bombardment since conflict broke out in Syria in 2011.<\/p>\n
The quake also left more than 39,000 dead in Turkiye.<\/p>\n
Jandaris, where Sawadi lives, is one of the hardest-hit towns in the rebel-held parts of the north. Other children have been left orphaned there by the quake, after surviving years of bombardment in the nearly 12-year war ravaging Syria.<\/p>\n
Government-controlled cities have also been severely damaged. A woman gave birth to a child in the city of Aleppo during the earthquake and said he \u201cbrought her back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An infant child born in northern Syria during this month\u2019s devastating earthquake has reunited with her aunt and uncle, after her parents and siblings died in the disaster. Footage circulating widely on social media after the quake showed a rescuer scrambling down a hill of rubble carrying a tiny dust-covered baby. The newborn was later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-315087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n