Father calls for Government to get his boy out of Syria

Birmingham-born Muadh Zain has seen his uncle killed by shrapnel, his town reduced to rubble, and scores of locals slaughtered by bombs during the three years he has been stuck inside the rebel-stronghold city of Daraa.

His father, City worker Wael Zain, said his son is so traumatised by the horrors he has stopped speaking and clings to his mother, too frightened to leave her side.

Mr Zain, who works for financial services giant Allianz in London’s Canary Wharf, says he has begged the Foreign Office to intervene and get his son out of the war zone, but claims his pleas have fallen on deaf ears because the boy’s mother is Syrian. He said: “My son is a British child. The Government has a real responsibility to act, but they aren’t.

“I wake up each day fearing the worst. I’m taking every hour as it comes, but I just don’t know what is going to happen. It is so unpredictable.

“I want my son to be safe. I don’t want him to be flown home in a coffin.”

Muadh spent the first years of his life in Birmingham, but moved to Syria with his mother Doha three-and-a-half years ago after his parents split up. Mr Zain, 30, said the move was only meant to be temporary, but civil war broke out in 2011 and as the violence quickly escalated they were unable to escape.

The years inside the war-zone have taken their toll on his blonde-haired son. He has developed a squint in his right eye which requires urgent medical treatment, but his father fears the psychological trauma will leave the deepest scars.

Mr Zain is calling on the Foreign Office to persuade the Jordanian authorities to reopen a crossing and allow Muadh and his mother to cross and then travel on to Britain. He said: “They are literally a 15-minute drive to the Jordanian border. They are a short drive away from safety.”

A spokesman said the Foreign office is aware of the situation and offering advice and assistance to the family. He said: “For some years FCO travel advice has advised against all travel to Syria, and all UK consular services in Syria were suspended some time ago.”