Laughing Syrian girl from viral video begins new life in Turkey

A week after her infectious laugh broke the internet, the three-year-old Syrian girl has started a new life with her family in Turkey.

To help her daughter cope with Syria's long-running war trauma, Salwa's father turned the experience of airstrikes into a bittersweet game and taught her Salwa to laugh every time there is a sound of a bombing.

Thanking the Turkish government, her father informed that they have been invited to live in Turkey after the video caught global attention. 

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The video, posted by her father Abdullah al-Muhammad on social media this week, shows him and his three-year-old daughter Salwa laughing adorably as an explosion is heard outside their home.

Mohammad noted that many children suffer psychological hardships and stress due to daily airstrikes, and wanted to avoid Salwa suffering the same. 

He said that he managed to convince his daughter that these noises are similar to the sounds of fireworks and that they are nothing to be scared of.

Also read: Air strikes hit hospitals, camps in northwest Syria; 300 civilian casualties

The video had evoked an emotional response from viewers while several called for an end to violence in the region.

The Syrian army has pushed hard in recent months to retake the last large rebel-held region in northwestern Syria after nine years of war that has displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands.

Nearly a million Syrians have fled over the last three months, the biggest exodus of the war.

The United Nations said on Thursday the battle was having "catastrophic" humanitarian consequences, with the civilian death toll rising and schools and hospitals destroyed.