Syria's Bana al-Abed honoured by the Atlantic Council with 2018 Freedom Award

Bana al-Abed, a nine-year-old Syrian child refugee from Aleppo who live-tweeted her experiences in war-torn Syria, was honoured by a US think tank on Saturday.

Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank, honoured Bana with the 2018 Freedom award, which was introduced by Nick Waters, a member of the Bellingcat investigation team.

"The effort by Fatemah and Bana to use social media to show the world what was happening from the perspective of their family humanised the unimaginably vast suffering of civilians within Syria," Waters said.

Bana came to international attention with her Twitter account, which is run by her mother Fatemah, that gave a tragic account of the assault on Aleppo by the regime and its allies.

Bana and her family were evacuated from Aleppo to Turkey following the defeat of the rebels there in a devastating Russian-backed offensive.

In May, she was granted Turkish citizenship in the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Children of Syria are tired of war.  Getting out of Aleppo was my happiest day.  There was no bombing, no more war planes.  I was, like, dreaming.  I miss the days without bombing.  I'm lucky I am alive," Bana said after receiving the award.

"If you want for your children and the world to have a better future, the leaders of the world must stand together to stop the war and to help children to have education."