Young Syrian Twitter Star Is Safe

One of the most famous residents of besieged Aleppo has made it out safely. Tweets from humanitarian officials show that 7-year-old Bana Alabed was evacuated safely from the city on Monday, reports the Independent. As government forces had closed in on the city in recent weeks, the girl's Twitter account—run with the help of her mother, an English teacher—exploded in popularity as it described their ordeal. The account currently has about 326,000 followers, with Bana being compared to a modern Anne Frank. Though critics including President Bashar al-Assad himself denounced the account as largely false propaganda, fact-checkers backed up its authenticity, reports the Washington Post.

Bana "is safe with her family after she was evacuated from her city," tweeted Zaher Sahloul, founder of the humanitarian organization American Relief Coalition for Syria. "She survived siege,bombing & apathy." Two days ago, the girl and her mother, Fatemah, sent a video message to NBC News appealing directly to Michelle Obama. "I talk to you as a mother," Fatemah says. "I implore you to help us ... because we are so afraid." It wasn't immediately clear where Bana is now, but the tweets say she had reached the Aleppo "countryside" with other evacuees. (More Syria stories.)