Syrian child, taught to laugh instead of cry at sound of bombs, gets new life in Turkey

The little Syrian girl whose contagious laughter went viral after she was taught by her father to laugh during the sound of falling bombs, has found shelter in Turkey.

The family has entered Turkey to start a new life after being invited as refugees in the hope of giving Salwa a safe childhood, reports Al Jazeera.

"All I want is for my child to live without fear and horror," her father Abdullah Abu Salwa had told Al Jazeera in a previous interview.

Abdullah is now giddy with relief, reports The Guardian. "Now we don't have to be afraid anymore," The Guardian quotes him as saying. "Salwa has a completely different future," the father said.

Salwa's family, however, were very lucky to be invited to Turkey rather than having to pay smugglers thousands of dollars and then dodge the bullets of border guards, according to The Guardian. There are three million people still trapped by a three-month-old campaign by the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and his Russian allies to seize back north-western Idlib province, the last opposition stronghold in the country.

In recent months, fighting has intensified between Turkey-backed opposition forces and Russia-backed government forces over Idlib.

The United Nations says this escalation in violence has "catastrophic" humanitarian consequences, says Al Jazeera.