Syria: Poverty forces mum to abandon baby in Damascus

A Syrian mother has abandoned her baby girl near a mosque in the capital Damascus, leaving her with only a heartbreaking note, local media outlets reported.

According to the reports, the infant was found near the Sinan Pasha mosque in the Bab Al-Jabiya area of central Damascus with nothing but a note identifying her and explaining why the mother abandoned her.

“The girl is legitimate, her father died and I can no longer feed her. Her name is Maryam,” the hand-written note explained.

Social media users held the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad responsible for the unprecedented levels of poverty in the areas under its control. Many people have offered to adopt Maryam while others offered a monthly stipend to support her mother in order to allow her to care for her daughter.

Over the past few years, many families have abandoned their infants in cardboard boxes or wrapped in winter blankets in regime-held areas, due to extreme poverty and their inability to provide the necessary care for the child.

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