Syrian baby 'born with shrapnel lodged in head after mother injured in Aleppo airstrike'

Graphic footage showed the child being delivered in an emergency caesarean section

The baby survived after a video showed surgeons removing shrapnel from her head (YouTube)

A baby girl has been born with shrapnel lodged in her head in Syria after her pregnant mother suffered horrific injuries in a rocket attack.

The woman, named locally as Amira, had to undergo an emergency caesarean section at a hospital in Aleppo.

Graphic footage posted on Facebook by the Aleppo City Medical Council showed doctors, delivering the lifeless and pale child, who had a piece of shrapnel that had pierced her mother's womb embedded in her forehead.

Doctors Save Syrian Baby After Shrapnel Hits Mother

A Syrian mother was hit with shrapnel, leaving her pregnancy in doubt. That's when the doctors stepped in.

Posted by AJ+ on Friday, 18 September 2015

Medics could be seen frantically rubbing the baby and laying her down on a table to remove the shard of metal, when the infant finally started to whimper and show signs of life.

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Doctors suggested the name Amel, meaning Hope, in honour of the child’s miraculous survival.

“She wasn't even born, and she was targeted,” said Dr Mohammed Tabbaa, from the Syria Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA), told CNN. “I mean, that's the situation. I'm hoping she'll have a better future.”

الطفلة أمل التي أصيبت بشظية فوق عينها وهي في بطن أمها كما يظهر هي وأمها في صحة جيدة 23-9-2015

Posted by ‎مشفى م1 الميداني M1hospital‎ on Tuesday, 22 September 2015

An update posted on the M1 hospital’s Facebook page on Wednesday showed mother and baby resting in bed and said they were both in good health.

Amira and her three older children were injured in the air strike on 18 September, CNN reported, which was blamed on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime by medics.

The footage of the birth could not be independently verified and the perpetrator of the alleged bombing was unclear.

 

 

Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is divided between opposition fighters, the Syrian government and Kurdish forces and sees frequent bombardment and street battles.

Bombardment started as the country’s civil war intensified at the end of 2013 and residential areas, busy markets, bus stations, schools and hospitals have been targeted by airstrikes and barrel bombing.