Get ready for your daily cry. The Syrian boy whose image went viral after he was photographed in an ambulance, covered in dust and blood from a bombing, has a new friend in the United States, and an invitation to come and share his toys.
At the United Nations this week, President Barack Obama shared a letter he received from 6-year-old Alex, from Scarsdale, NY.
“Dear President Obama, Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria?” Alex wrote. “Can you please go get him and bring him to our home?”
Alex invited the president to park in the driveway, or the street, and says that he’ll be waiting to welcome them with balloons. “We will give him a family, and he will be our brother,” he said.
Alex is talking about Omran Daqneesh, a 5-year-old boy who was injured in an August air strike in Aleppo, the worst-hit city in the Syrian civil war. Video of Omran after the bombing showing him stunned and quiet, barefoot in the back of an ambulance, sparked horror and outrage worldwide. Omran’s 10-year-old brother, Ali, was killed in the attack. Who launched the air strike remains unclear.
There were an estimated 4.8 million refugees fleeing violence in Syria in 2015, according to a UNICEF report. Almost half of them are children like Omran. This week at the United Nations General Assembly, leaders and activists, including other child refugees, are calling for action to address their plight.
Obama applauded Alex’s invitation, praising “the humanity that a young child can display, who hasn’t learned to be cynical, or suspicious, or fearful of other people because of where they’re from or how they look or how they pray,” he said. “We can all learn from Alex.”
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