The Pokemon Go craze exists in war-torn Syria, too, and some of the country’s children are tapping into the app’s popularity in an appeal to be rescued.
The Revolutionary Forces of Syria, a coalition made up of some of the country’s opposition groups, tweeted a heartbreaking series of photos of children holding up Pokemon character drawings with inscriptions written underneath.
The app uses augmented reality, which allows users to capture Pokemon in real-world locations.
“There’s a lot of #Pokemon in #Syria...Come rescue me!!!” the young boy in the picture above holding a drawing of Pikachu wrote.
In the photo below, the boy wrote: “I am in the Kafr Nabl in Idlib’s countryside come rescue me.”
“I am from Kafr Nabudah…Rescue me,” this boy holding up a drawing of Squirtle wrote.
The country has been locked in a civil war since 2011. Relentless airstrikes pound many of the major cities, leaving people very few opportunities for survival.
Almost 12,000 children have been killed in the last five years and more than 2.3 million have had to leave the country, according to statistics from Save the Children.
People living in other areas plagued by war and instability are also turning to Pokemon Go to highlight their plight. The tweet below shows a dead character lying amidst rubble in the Gaza Strip.