Can Syria's War Orphans Pull Americans Away From Their Pokemon?
Syrian activists are posting photographs of children posing with drawings of Pokemon characters on social media to draw the world's attention to their plight as the conflict carries on for five years.
A series of such pictures, posted on Facebook, tell the town or village of the young children holding Pokemon drawings with the message, "Come and save me," according to U.K.-based Independent.
"I'm from Kafr Nabl in Idlib province. Come and save me," reads one of the pictures.
Tens of thousands of people have shared the pictures on Facebook.
Behind the use of the international Pokemon Go craze for the cause is the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office, which works to spread the messages of Syrians against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"We want to raise awareness and draw attention to the plight of Syrian children in besieged areas and the suffering of Syrian people who are attacked and killed by the Assad regime and its allies," a Turkey-based spokesperson of the RFA Media Office was quoted as saying. "Syrian children are victims of the war and the brutal and indiscriminate attacks that are carried out on a daily basis by regime and Russian jets. The Syrian children are paying the price for the international inaction to stop the Assad killing machine."
