Just days after the deadly earthquake, images of a newborn girl being rescued from the rubble in Syria – with her umbilical cord still attached – went viral and brought tears to the face of the globe.

The few-hour-old infant was taken to the hospital in Afrin and the doctors named the baby Aya – which means miracle in Arabic. The newborn girl – orphaned from the first minute of her life – is recovering in the incubator, with the doctors having her as their own child – in fact, the wife of the director of the hospital is breastfeeding her together with her own daughter – while thousands of people have expressed interest in adopt her or help her in any way.

However, there are now well-founded fears that little Aya has been abducted by people posing as the baby’s alleged relatives, and the police have taken over her custody.

In fact, according to a local official, on Monday night, gunmen stormed the hospital where Aya is being treated and beat the clinic’s director, Dr Khalid Attiah, who has categorically refused to give the baby up for adoption, before the last hope of grow up with her biological relative.

The doctor suspected that a nurse wanted to kidnap the little girl and chased her away. Hours later the nurse returned with the gunmen, who attacked the hospital director “because he kicked out their relative,” they said.

Aya may be able to leave the hospital on Wednesday, according to her paternal uncle – who was also killed in the quake. As Saleh al-Badran said, he and his wife will raise the baby as best they can, given the circumstances…