Syrian girl, 7, protects brother from earthquake rubble for 36 hours

February 8, 2023

A brave little girl in Syria was found shielding her younger brother’s head from rubble after their home collapsed in the deadly earthquake that struck their country and Turkey this week, heart-wrenching video showed Wednesday.

Rescuers spotted 7-year-old Mariam, and her brother, Ilaaf, whose age is unknown, under a slab of concrete near the town of Haram — where they had been trapped for more than 36 hours.

“Get me out of here, I’ll do anything for you,” the big sis can be heard telling an emergency responder in the footage.

Pictured: A video grab of Mariam protecting her brother Ilaaf, under rubble caused by the Syria earthquake. — The siblings were trapped for more than 36 hours.

Pictured: Mariam and Ilaaf resting in bed after they were rescued from their horrific ordeal. — Mariam and Ilaaf rest in a bed after they were rescued from the rubble.

“I’ll be your servant,” she pleads, as the rescuer assures her that won’t be necessary. “No, no,” he responds.

Mariam can be seen protecting her brother’s head with her arm and sweetly stroking his hair as they lay squished between concrete debris and what appears to be a bed.

A video later showed the children carried away in blankets by rescuers and then sitting safely on a bed. They were reportedly taken to a hospital.

earthquake damage — A 7.8 magnitude earthquake leveled buildings near the Turkey-Syria border.

Their father, Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed, said he, his wife and three children were sleeping early Monday when the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake struck.

“We felt the ground shaking … and rubble began falling over our head, and we stayed two days under the rubble,” he said.

“We went through, a feeling — a feeling I hope no one has to feel,” he said, adding that eventually his whole family was rescued.

The death toll from the powerful earthquake had climbed to nearly 12,000 along the Turkey-Syria border as of Wednesday.

With Post wires