7-year-old Twitter activist evacuated from E. Aleppo

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – A seven-year old Syrian girl who recently captured the world’s attention with her Twitter posts was evacuated on Monday from northern Syria’s war-torn city of Aleppo.

Bana Alabed arrived in Aleppo’s western countryside on Monday aboard a convoy of busses carrying evacuees from the city, local sources told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fears for their safety.

"She is being taken, along with her mother, to Syria’s Idlib province near the Turkish border," one source said.

Alabed’s mother had earlier appealed to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for help leaving besieged Aleppo.

The evacuations are being conducted under a deal brokered by Turkey and Russia for the evacuation of some 20,000 civilians and fighters from eastern Aleppo to Idlib.

The cities of Madaya and al-Zabadani will also be evacuated -- in an operation involving an estimated 1,500 people -- as well as the Shia-majority towns of Al-Fuah and Kefraya (which have a combined population of some 15,000).

In recent weeks, Alabed, who hails from eastern Aleppo’s opposition-held Al-Qatirgi district, posted numerous messages on her Twitter account -- along with her mother -- about frequent attacks on the city by Russian and Syrian regime warplanes.

Last week, Syrian opposition forces in eastern Aleppo hammered out a ceasefire deal with Syria’s Assad regime allowing civilians to be evacuated from the city.

Since then, at least 7,500 civilians have departed Aleppo for safe areas in Idlib, according to opposition sources.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.