‘Miracle baby’ burned in tent fire beating the odds – but mum says she’s shunned by society

Published

1 year ago

June 23, 2024

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Dalal is the little Syrian girl they never thought would survive.

Now four years old, despite horrific burn scars and no hands she is confounding the doctors, her family and everyone who knows her, all over again.

We watch as she concentrates hard on manoeuvring a pen between the stumps which she’s been left with. It is tough work for the little girl with no fingers.

She’s bent right over the paper she’s working on, trying hard to write her name as well as simple numbers. We notice she can manage to draw outlines which resemble hearts.

This young girl so badly mutilated by fire has a big heart herself despite her physical disadvantages.

Her eyesight’s not brilliant either, with heavy skin scarring all over her face making it hard to open them fully. Dalal’s skull is bald but for tufts of hair at her nape.

But her older sisters, Gazal and Hala, tie the little hair she has into a ponytail like theirs.

Doctors fought for months to save Dalal’s life not really believing they would succeed or she would have the strength for the multiple operations she needed to pull through.

When we first saw her, she was swathed from head to toe in bandages and had many horrific burns.

We first reported on her when she was a baby. Fire had ripped through her family’s tent, which had been pitched in a field in northwest Syria in the middle of the winter of 2021.

Her family had fled their home in Idlib province and were close to the Turkish border – along with tens of thousands of others trying to escape the regime bombing and fighting between Bashar al Assad’s troops, anti-regime groups and other militias.

The winter was bitter and the temperature in their tent near to freezing. There was a fire stove the adults lit to try to keep the family of six small children warm. But somehow the tent caught fire.

Her eldest sister, Yasmin, who was about 10, desperately tried to save Dalal, who was then a baby. But Yasmin was quickly overwhelmed by flames and smoke and could not be resuscitated.

Four of her younger siblings managed to scramble to safety or were helped out, but Dalal was already engulfed in flames. By the time she was pulled out, she was horrifically burned and barely alive.

Turkish authorities gave permission for her to be whisked across the border as a medical emergency and she was raced to Mersin hospital – unaccompanied by any family members at this stage.

A team of doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to save her.

‘Skin black like cole’

Lead surgeon Dr Cagatay Demirci told me then he never believed they’d be able to save her. She was so badly injured; her burns were so deep and she was so young, the challenges seemed insurmountable.

Her skin was “black like coal in many places”, the doctor said.

“Our team went to work on her and did what we could, but we left that night thinking she would not make it through the night,” he said at the time.

“But when we came back in the morning, she was still here, still alive. And we thought okay, this baby wants to live.”

And as she continued to pull through each complex operation – and there have been many – she confounded everybody. They called her the “miracle baby”.

But surgeons couldn’t save her fingers and had to amputate all her digits. Her face was terribly burned, the flames eating away at her eyelids, lips, hair, ears and hair follicles and feet.

Dr Demirci said then: “She will need many, many operations throughout her whole childhood as she grows and develops.”

Sky’s coverage of her astonishing survival was spotted by a single mum in Britain who was so moved by Dalal’s tale of tragedy and endurance, she set up a JustGiving page.

Within a few weeks, Lisa Cavey saw tens of thousands of pounds had been raised which would pay for an entirely new life for Dalal’s family.

First her father, Abdul Fattah, travelled to Turkey and stayed with her for months as she had operation after operation.

When it became apparent her survival depended being out of the Syrian battlefield and remaining in Turkey to receive medical help, the donations ensured passports were organised and funded the rest of the family.

Turkish authorities agreed her heavily pregnant mother and four siblings could join her.

The money helped pay rent for the family, now living as refugees in southern Turkey alongside four million other Syrians who fled the war across the border. It also contributed to medical help – because Dalal is likely to need multiple operations for years to come.

Ms Cavey has been in regular contact with the family ever since. “I cried when I saw the news report about Dalal,” she told me.

“Being a mother myself, I realised that could have been my daughter. They are of a similar age.

“I just felt it was so wrong that this had happened, and the family were in this situation through no fault of their own. I felt compelled to take some action.”

A Turkish-based charity called INARA, set up and run by journalist Arwa Damon, took on Dalal’s case and helped connect her with doctors and physiotherapists who’ve been helping her with her injuries ever since.

“Dalal’s case is exactly why I founded INARA,” she explained.

“To be an organisation that is willing and able to take on complex cases that require critical surgeries over the course of a child’s development,” adds Ms Damon.

“Often, what I saw from my experience in war zones is that these children tend to fall through the cracks in access to medical care or do not receive the many surgeries they need and as such end up relegated to a life in the shadows.

“INARA through its medical and mental health programme basically gives them the ability to see that their life is not over, that they do deserve and can be a part of society, even though it might be hard.”

Brave Dalal ‘not accepted’

But the war in Gaza, as well as the global economic downturn, has seen a depletion of public finances and much aid support for humanitarian groups diverted.

Doctors believe Dalal needs multiple expensive surgeries and are investigating if it’s possible to create fingers for her, perhaps by performing an intricate transplant of some of her toes to her hands.

Nothing has been decided yet as they explore the best options, but any surgery is expensive and Turkish authorities are dealing with inflation at around 70% and a crippling cost of living crisis.

Her mother, Fatima, is praying for more medical treatment for her daughter and describes heartbreaking moments in the playground when other children catch sight of Dalal.

“They scream in fear,” she says. “She is not accepted by the society. That is a fact.” She says she’s struggling to get any school to admit Dalal for the same reason.

Dalal is astonishingly independent, shrugging off help as she pulls on socks herself using her stumps – and climbs up the kitchen doorframe positioning her severed arms to hold herself up.

Each achievement is applauded by her family – but her now five siblings tell us of the hours of frustration, the tears and anger too.

“She cuts salad with us,” her eldest sister Gazal says. “She wants to do everything but she cries and says ‘why don’t I have fingers?'”

Alex Crawford reports from Southern Turkey with cameraman Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Syria producer Mahmoud Mosa.

World

Turkey urges US to act after accusing Israel of breaching Gaza ceasefire

Published

2 hours ago

October 24, 2025

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Turkey urges US to act after accusing Israel of breaching Gaza ceasefire

Turkey has urged the US to take action after accusing Israel of violating the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Washington and its allies should consider sanctions and halting arms sales to put pressure on Israel to abide by the agreement.

Turkey, a NATO member, joined ceasefire negotiations as a mediator, and increased its role following a meeting between Mr Erdogan and Donald Trump at the White House last month.

“The Hamas side is abiding by the ceasefire. In fact, it is openly stating its commitment to this. Israel, meanwhile, is continuing to violate the ceasefire,” Mr Erdogan told reporters.

“The international community, namely the United States, must do more to ensure Israel’s full compliance to the ceasefire and agreement,” he said.

Mr Erdogan was also asked about comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hinted that he would be opposed to any peacekeeping role for Turkish security forces in the Gaza Strip.

The Turkish president said talks on the issue were still underway, adding: “As this is a multi-faceted issue, there are comprehensive negotiations. We are ready to provide Gaza any form of support on this issue.”

Israel has accused Hamas of breaching the truce and previously said its recent military action in Gaza was designed to uphold the agreement.

Relations between former allies Israel and Turkey hit new lows during the Gaza war, with Ankara accusing Mr Netanyahu’s government of committing genocide, an allegation Israel has repeatedly denied.

Speaking during a visit to Israel on Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a planned international security force for Gaza would have to be made up of “countries that Israel’s comfortable with,” but declined to comment specifically on Turkey’s involvement.

Around 200 US troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries, planning the stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza.

The US is seeking support from other allies, namely Gulf Arab nations, to build an international security force to be deployed to Gaza and train a Palestinian security force.

Mr Rubio said many nations had expressed interest, but decisions had yet to be made about the rules of engagement. He added that countries need to know what they were signing up for.

“Under what authority are they going to be operating? Who’s going to be in charge? What is their job?” said Mr Rubio.

The secretary of state also reiterated his earlier warning to Israel not to annex the occupied West Bank, land that Palestinians want for part of an independent state.

A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday.

“We don’t think it’s going to happen”, Mr Rubio said, adding that annexation “would also threaten this whole process”.

“If [annexation] were to happen, a lot of the countries that are involved in working on this probably aren’t going to want to be involved in this anymore. It’s a threat to the peace process and everybody knows it”, he added.

World

US ramps up ‘drug boats’ operation by sending in aircraft carrier to region

Published

2 hours ago

October 24, 2025

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US ramps up 'drug boats' operation by sending in aircraft carrier to region

The US has announced it is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America as it ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Gerald R Ford would be deployed to the region to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.

The vessel is the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier. It is currently deployed in the Mediterranean alongside three destroyers, and the group are expected to take around one week to make the journey.

There are already eight US Navy ships in the central and South American region, along with a nuclear-powered submarine, adding up to about 6,000 sailors and marines, according to officials.

It came as the US secretary of war claimed that six “narco-terrorists” had been killed in a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea overnight.

Pete Hegseth said his military had bombed a vessel which he claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan gang designated a terror group by Washington in February.

Writing on X, he claimed that the boat was involved in “illicit narcotics smuggling” and was transiting along a “known narco-trafficking route” when it was struck during the night.

All six men on board the boat, which was in international waters, were killed and no US forces were harmed, he said.

Ten vessels have now been bombed in recent weeks, killing more than 40 people.

Mr Hegseth added: “If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”

While he did not provide any evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs, he did share a 20-second video that appeared to show a boat being hit by a projectile before exploding.

Speaking during a White House press conference last week, Donald Trump argued that the campaign would help tackle the US’s opioid crisis.

“Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat, and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough’. It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” he said.

On Thursday, appearing at a press conference with Mr Hegseth, Mr Trump said that it was necessary to kill the alleged smugglers, because if they were arrested they would only return to transport drugs “again and again and again”.

“They don’t fear that, they have no fear,” he told reporters.

The attacks at sea would soon be followed by operations on land against drug smuggling cartels, Mr Trump claimed.

“We’re going to kill them,” he added. “They’re going to be, like, dead.”

Some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns that the strikes risk dragging the US into a war with Venezuela because of their proximity to the South American country’s coast.

Others have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings that would not stand up in a court of law.

Jim Himes, a member of the House of Representatives, told CBS News earlier this month: “They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States – and this is what the administration says is their justification – is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous.”

He claimed that Congress had been told “nothing” about who was on the boats and how they were identified as a threat.

World

Sanctions alone won’t force Putin to end Ukraine war

Published

3 hours ago

October 24, 2025

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Sanctions alone won't force Putin to end Ukraine war

Donald Trump has swung like a pendulum between favouring Russia and less often sympathising with Ukraine. This week he has tilted more toward Kyiv.

Leaders in the coalition of the willing meeting in London on Friday were keen to add momentum to that shift.

The US president has imposed sanctions on two leading Russian oil firms, doing what many had hoped America would do months ago.

European allies were quick to follow that lead. And some countries that have been trading Russian oil appear spooked enough to start backing away from doing so.

But analysts are warning against overstating the impact of all this.

Alexander Kolyandr, senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, told Sky News that sanctions won’t be enough on their own.

“There should be an understanding that sanctions alone would not force Putin to stop the war,” he said.

“So Ukraine should get more arms, Ukraine should get more support, and Ukraine should get more guarantees.”

There appears to have been progress on sending more long-range weapons to Ukraine.

It needs them to neutralise the threat of drones launched from miles behind Russia‘s border.

And possibly towards unfreezing Russia assets to use the proceeds to help fund the Ukrainian war effort, though some nations still oppose the idea.

But this week has seen an unusual level of alignment between the allies on both sides of the Atlantic. That will last as long as Trump does not change his mind.

The US president wants to broker an end to the war.

Putin will not be serious about negotiating for peace as long as he thinks he has a chance of victory.

“Putin and the Kremlin are pretty much sure that they are winning the war,” Mr Kolyandr told Sky News, “and that if they keep on pushing, Ukraine might collapse.

“And that’s why I don’t think that President Putin is ready to agree to any kind of compromise which would be acceptable for Ukraine or its European allies.”

It may take a lot more than sanctions on a handful of oil companies to persuade Putin it is not in his interest to continue this war.