Children in Syria Use Pokemon to Try Save Themselves

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(Newswire.net — July 23, 2016) — The world is completely obsessed with the new Pokemon Go game, in which players search for and capture small creatures called Pokemon. Children in Syria are using this game and Pokemon to draw public attention to the fact that they are trapped in their own country and they want to be saved.

The pictures, published on Facebook, are of children from the village of Kafr Nabl in northwestern Syria, which show them holding pictures of Pokemon.

In one photo, a child is holding a sign that reads: “I am in Kafr Nabl on the outskirts of Idlib, come and save me,” and another photo shows a different child holding a sign that says “I am in Kafr Zeta, save me.”

The signs also state the location of each child, all in different Syrian towns.

The photos were posted by the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS), a media outlet for spreading the messages of Syrian’s against Bashar al-Assad’s presidential regime.

A spokesperson for the RFS, which is based in Turkey, told The Independent that they decided to publish these images to highlight the suffering of Syrian people who are attacked and killed by the Assad regime and its allies.

The photos were published after more than 50 civilians were killed in the last by air-strike in northern Syria, among them were mostly women and children.

The pictures have emerged to mark five years of a civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and seen millions forced to flee their homes.

According to the Save the Children organization, at least 250,000 children live in Syrian cities under siege.

During 2015, 1.2 million asylum seekers arrived in Europe, most of them Syrians who escaped the war. At least 3,770 drowned or went missing during the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Europe.