Let’s see what kind of push comes with this AP story.
Gunmen storm hospital of newborn saved from quake in Syria
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A baby girl who was born under the rubble caused by an earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey receives treatment inside an incubator at a children’s hospital in the town of Afrin, Aleppo province, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The infant, who has since been named Aya, Arabic for “sign from God,” is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Syria and Turkey. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Syria Turkey Earthquake Newborn Rescue
A baby girl who was born under the rubble caused by an earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey receives treatment inside an incubator at a children’s hospital in the town of Afrin, Aleppo province, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Residents in the northwest Syrian town discovered the crying infant whose mother gave birth to her while buried underneath the rubble of a five-story apartment building levelled by this week’s devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor say. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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APTOPIX Syria Turkey Earthquake Newborn
Mourners bury family members who died in a devastating earthquake that rocked Syria and Turkey at a cemetery in the town of Jinderis, Aleppo province, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. A newborn girl was found buried under debris with her umbilical cord still connected to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was found dead, according to relatives and a doctor. The baby was the only member of her family to survive from the building collapse Monday in Jinderis, next to the Turkish border, Ramadan Sleiman, a relative, told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
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Syria Turkey Earthquake Newborn Rescue
A rescuer carries a baby girl after pulling her from the rubble caused by an earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the town of Jinderis, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Residents in the northwest Syrian town discovered the crying infant whose mother gave birth to her while buried underneath the rubble of a five-story apartment building levelled by this week’s devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor say. (Via AP)
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BASSEM MROUE
Tue, February 14, 2023 at 6:09 AM CST
BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen stormed a Syrian hospital that is caring for a baby girl who was born under the rubble of her family’s earthquake-shattered home, and the attackers beat the facility’s director, a hospital official said Tuesday.
The official denied reports on social media that the Monday night attack was an attempt to kidnap the infant named Aya — Arabic for “a sign from God.” She has been at the hospital since hours after the Feb. 6. earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. Her parents and four siblings died in the disaster.
Aya’s story has been widely shared in news reports, and people from around the world have offered to help her.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the hospital’s director had suspected that a nurse who was taking pictures of Aya was planning to kidnap her and kicked him out of the hospital. The nurse returned hours later accompanied by gunmen who beat up the director, the official said.
The director’s wife has been breast-feeding Aya, her doctor said previously.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the gunmen told police officers protecting the girl that they were going after the director for firing their friend and were not interested in Aya, according to the official.
Police began guarding the girl after several people showed up falsely claiming to be her relatives, the doctor said.
Aya may be able to leave the hospital as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday, according to her great-uncle, Saleh al-Badran. He said the baby’s paternal aunt, who recently gave birth and survived the quake, will raise her.
Rescue workers in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis discovered the dark-haired baby girl more than 10 hours after the quake as they were digging through the wreckage of the five-story apartment building where her parents lived.
Buried under the concrete, the baby was still connected by her umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya. She was rushed to the hospital in nearby Afrin, where she has been cared for since.
The devastating quake reduced many communities in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria to piles of broken concrete and twisted metal. More than 35,000 people were killed, a toll expected to rise as search teams find more bodies.
The earthquake destroyed dozens of housing units in the town of Jinderis, where Aya’s family had been living since 2018.
Aya’s father, Abdullah Turki Mleihan, was originally from the village of Khsham in eastern Deir el-Zour province, but left in 2014 after the Islamic State group captured the village, said al-Badran, an uncle of Aya’s father.