A shocked 5-year-old boy in an ambulance in Syria became the face of the atrocities taking place in Aleppo. Now a US boy wants to share his family with him - and asked the US president to help move the process along.
US President Barack Obama shared a handwritten letter he received from Alex, a 6-year-old boy in New York, who asked for the president to bring Omran Daqneesh, the Syrian boy pictured bloody in an ambulance after surviving an airstrike in June, to his home in the US state of New York, where he and his family would welcome him.
"Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny," Alex wrote in his letter. "And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math."
A post on the president's Facebook account has so far received over 4,700 comments and 191,000 reactions from people around the world - many of them praising Alex's openness and compassion.
The White House also posted a video of Alex reading his letter on YouTube.
"A six-year-old who has more humanity, love, and understanding than most adults," a Facebook user wrote. "Kudos to his parents and I know the world will see more great things coming from Alex."
"Children are really wonderful; so open and accepting until taught otherwise by their parents and other adults," another Facebook user wrote. "Hopefully Alex will continue to understand the significance of acceptance and his parents will continue to promote this in him and his sister."
After being treated in a Syrian hospital in June, doctors said Omran's parents had survived the airstrike, but their home had been destroyed. Mahmoud Raslan, who photographed Omran, said that the boy lived with his mother, father and three siblings and that they were all injured.