Orphaned girl has shone a light on a forgotten conflict.
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A five-year-old girl who survived an airstrike in Yemen that killed her parents and siblings has become an emblem of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle Eastern country.
Buthaina Muhammad Mansour was pulled from the rubble of an apartment building in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, on August 25 following the Saudi-led strike.
The sole survivor of her immediate family, she escaped the bombing with a fractured skull and severe bruising that sealed her eyes closed.
When local reporters later interviewed the injured orphan from her hospital bed, she brought her hand to her face and forced one of her eyes open to see who was speaking.
The moment, captured on camera, has sparked a social media campaign, with scores of people sharing photographs of themselves mimicking the gesture to show solidarity with civilians affected by the conflict between the Saudi-backed military coalition and the Houthi rebels.
Buthaina is the only survivor of a Saudi air strike in #yemen
Share Buthaina’s story with the hashtag: #بثينة_عين_الانسانية #saveyemen pic.twitter.com/FNvEfZgOxR— CODEPINK (@codepink) August 31, 2017
#I_SPEAK_FOR_BUTHINA
Stop the War on Yemen#بثينه_عين_الانسانية pic.twitter.com/meGjFMCL4B— Khaled AL Oussabi (@AlOussabi) August 30, 2017
#بثينه_عين_الانسانية
هشتاج حملة تضامن مع الطفلة بثينة
اعجبتني فكرة #التضامن.. سيكون مشروووع حملة وترند عالمي.. ممكن يكون له اثر.. pic.twitter.com/Wb77oYVSG4— أميري علي (@s0nlrusNZYhu3ID) August 29, 2017
According to UN figures released this week, more than 1,100 children have been killed in Yemen since March 2015, most in Saudi-led airstrikes, in an “entirely man-made catastrophe”.
In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia acknowledged responsibility for the August 25 strike but said it resulted from a “technical error”.
Back in Yemen, Buthania is now recovering from her injuries and adjusting to a new life in the care of her aunt and uncle, unaware that her story is opening the world’s eyes to the conflict that killed her family