Bloodied boy pulled from Aleppo rubble becomes face of Syrian conflict

Omran's image has been shared thousands of times on social media, his face becoming a symbol of the horrible daily struggle of innocent civilians in Aleppo.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 18, 2016 12:52
Young Omran Daqneesh, bloodied and dazed, was pulled from the rubble in Aleppo.
Children were pulled from the rubble of a building in Aleppo on Wednesday night, after it was hit by air strikes, according to amateur video posted to the internet.
The video shows three small children sitting in the back of an ambulance, all covered in dust.
The first little boy sits dazed and silently in the back of the vehicle, trying to wipe the blood from his badly injured face.
The video was purportedly shot in the rebel-held al-Qaterji neighborhood of the divided Syrian city.
 
The Telegraph reported that the child is five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, who was pulled from the rubble and brought to the ambulance by rescue workers. Omran was treated at M10 hospital for his head injury, and released later that night. His image has since been shared thousands of times on social media, his face becoming a symbol of the horrible daily struggle of innocent civilians in Aleppo.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said warplanes targeted the area, killing three people and injuring several others.
Fighting for control of Aleppo, split between its government-held west and rebel-held eastern neighborhoods, has intensified in recent weeks causing hundreds of deaths and depriving many civilians of power, water and vital supplies.
The city is one of the bastions of the rebellion to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose army is backed on the ground by Shi'ite Muslim militias from neighboring countries and from the skies by Russian air strikes.


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