An official in the Syrian Coalition said that the heartbreaking and shocking photos of Omran Daqneesh , the child who was injured in airstrikes believed to by the Russian jets, must prompt the UN Security Council to take urgent action to protect civilians in Syria.
Omran, who is five years old, was rescued from under the rubble of his house that was bombed on Wednesday night. Within minutes of being posted by activists and journalists, photographs and a video of Omran went viral on social media around the world.
The photos show the face of Omran covered in blood and dust after he was carried from the ruins of his home in the neighborhood of Alqaterji in eastern Aleppo. He was then put on a seat in the back of an ambulance, bewildered and silently staring ahead as he tried to wipe the blood off his head, seemingly unaware of his injuries. The boy sits alone, stunned, before two more children are brought into the vehicle. A man with blood on his face then joins them.
Activists in eastern Aleppo said that most likely the Wednesday airstrikes on Alqaterji were carried out by Russian jets. The airstrikes caused many buildings in the rebel-held district to collapse, including the home of Omran and his family.
A member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Osama Taljou said that the case of Omran is not unique as many Syrian children are facing the same fate on a daily basis as a result of revenge attacks by the Assad regime and its allies on the Syrian people.
Taljou pointed out that these barbaric attacks on civilians are aimed to collectively punish the Syrian people and to try to bring them to their knees by quelling the revolution for freedom and dignity.
Taljou called upon the United Nations to hold Assad accountable for killing over 400,000 Syrians and displacing over 13 million more. He stressed that the Syrian people will never give up the struggle for freedom and dignity, rejecting all attempts to reproduce the Assad regime.
The Assad regime and Russian air forces continue to brutally bomb Aleppo, Idlib and Daraya, killing over 400 civilians between 8-15 August. The Syrian Coalition said that the spectacular gains rebel and FSA have lately made in Aleppo have brought in near hysteria on Assad and his allies, who then carried out wholesale massacres against the Syrian people.
An Aleppo-based freelance photographer Mahmoud Raslan, who had taken the video and photographs of Omran, said civilian rescuers and aid workers were elated as Omran was pulled from the rubble alive with the rest of his family of six.
“He was in a state of shock, not even crying, he made us cry while he himself was silent, just watching us,” Raslan told Reuters. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
