#WhereIsBana? Seven-year-old Aleppo girl falls silent on Twitter

A seven-year-old girl whose tweets from besieged eastern Aleppo drew worldwide attention has disappeared off social media amid an army offensive.

The last message sent on the Twitter account Bana Alabed shares with her mother was: "We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.- Fatemah #Aleppo"
On 27 November she said: "Tonight we have no house, it's bombed and I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died."

That same day Bana tweeted asking for people's prayers amid fresh bombing.

"Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us," she said.

Global support

Last month, Bana's tweets captured the attention of JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series.

Rowling's team sent Bana ebooks of the entire Harry Potter series after the young girl posted that she liked to read "to forget the war."

On Monday, Rowling retweeted messages of support for Bana and her family's survival as well as calling for information on the girl's whereabouts.

Other appeals for information came in from around the world.

But Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim, whose passport was confiscated in the UK in September at the request of the Syrian government, said on Monday Bana and her family were safe. 

Bana's mother Fatema created the Twitter account for her daughter in late September to "share our life here to the world'' as the Syrian army launched a major offensive to recapture Aleppo.

Tweeting in English with the help of her mother, Bana Alabed painted a picture of life in the city.

But the account was deleted on Sunday, as troops pushed further into the city's east.