Rome, Mar 11 (IANS/AKI): A six-year-old girl was due to arrive in Italy on Friday to be reunited with her Italian mother five years after her Syrian father spirited her away to his war-wracked homeland.
Houda Emma Kharat, was due to arrive at Rome's Ciampino airport late on Friday aboard a flight from Istanbul.
The girl, who is now nearly seven, has not seen her mother Alice Rossini since she was taken by her father to live with him in Syria's northern city of Aleppo at the age of one.
"Heartfelt thanks to the Turkish authorities and to the Italian state bodies that have made this reunion possible," said Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano.
"This evening Houda Emma will be hugged by her mother once again."
Rossini's ex-husband Mohammed Kharat, was held in Turkey last year on an international arrest warrant. He kidnapped his daughter in on 18 December 2011 revenge for the breakdown of his marriage to Rossini.