His father, Abdullah said everything he had dreamed of was now gone. He sits silently on an orange chair, and we see he’s covered with soot and blood.
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The image of Omran Daqneesh, the young Syrian boy sitting quietly in an ambulance, bloodied and covered with dust, is another vivid reminder of the toll of the war in Syria.
“Then I looked up to see another building half destroyed – Omran’s house”. Ironically, the US-backed Zenki group claimed it had quickly arrested the individual perpetrators and said they would face swift justice.
When you look at Omran’s face, this bloodied, impassive face, it hits you that the boy is so traumatized that even as he pulled his hand away with his own blood, he doesn’t react, he just doesn’t respond.
Throughout the report, one CNN anchor couldn’t hold back the tears while relaying Omran’s story.
Mr Halabi said he wants to stop the “Russian and regime bombs” blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths in rebel-held areas of Aleppo, adding: “While I care about Omran, Samir or Ahmad, I care about all the massacres that are happening. He is alive. We wanted you to know”. His photo of a shell-shocked boy who barely survived an airstrike in Aleppo has captured the hearts and emotions of millions and conveyed a powerful momentary glimpse into the senseless and horrific devastation endured by Syria’s innocent children.
The image of the Syrian boy in the ambulance, pasted in dust, silent, and staring into the distance, evoked reactions of empathy, frustration, and anger on Thursday at the plight of the tens of thousands of children in Aleppo.
“I can’t imagine the pain that a parent must go through when they are unable to protect their child”.
Eastern Aleppo, where Omran and his family were injured, has been bombarded for years after being taken over by opposition groups at the start of the Syrian civil war.
“Not unconscious, but traumatized – lost”, a nurse told the media in Syria. And who could blame her.
In Geneva, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura cut short the weekly meeting of the humanitarian taskforce headed by the United States and Russian Federation, in protest at the failure of warring parties to allow aid to reach civilians. “They kill these people who are trying to rescue people”.
We at Oxfam have called urgently for a fully-fledged ceasefire, not just a short break in the fighting, to allow humanitarian aid into all areas of Aleppo and ensure the protection of civilians.
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This does not simply mean that we need to pressure these countries to open their borders for refugees fleeing conflict, but we also need to start discussing and taking action without excluding the political context of the catastrophes. In Syria, there isn’t as clear a solution, says Hogan.
