7-year-old Syrian girl with popular Twitter account meets Turkish president

A seven-year-old Syrian girl who drew global attention with her Twitter updates from besiegedAleppo met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at his palace inAnkara on Wednesday.

Photographs released on Erdogan's official Twitter account showed the president hugging Bana Alabed as she sat on his lap.

Bana and her mother Fatemah were removed safely along with25,000 other people from the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo this week. Turkey has supported rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"I was pleased to host @AlabedBana and her family at the Presidential Complex today. Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria," Erdogan said on his official Twitter account.

Helped by her mother, who manages the @AlabedBana account, Bana Alabed has uploaded pictures and videos of life during the nearly six-year-old Syrian war, gaining around 352,000 followerssince September.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said when Bana and her mother were part of the Aleppo evacuation that she would be brought to Turkey with her family.

The eventual departure of thousands left in Aleppo's insurgent zone will hand full control of the city to Assad, the biggest prize of the nearly six-year-old civil war.

• Syrian girl, 7, behind Twitter account escapes Aleppo
• Bana Alabed tweets from Aleppo after falling silent for a time