Haunted Stare of Bloodied Toddler Rescued from Airstrike in Syria Sparks Worldwide Outrage over the War [Video]

Sorrowful video and still images have appeared online from Syria, showing a confused and traumatized little boy who was pulled out from rubble after a bomb reportedly hit an apartment building of his family, in the city of Aleppo.

The boy has been identified as Omran Daqneesh. He lived with his family in the rebel-held eastern quarter of the city. Omran’s 10-year-old brother named Ali died from the airstrike.

The pro-rebel Aleppo Media Center, who posted the video online on August 18, 2016, said the bomb was dropped from the air by Syrian government forces. Observers say the video captured what the civilian population – especially children – have been going through since the beginning of the war. The devastating airstrike killed three people, injuring eight others including Omran.

The video showed a stunned and weary-looking Omran, sitting alone and bewildered on an orange chair inside an ambulance, shortly after he was rescued from the wreckage. Covered in dust and blood, Omran seemed obviously shocked and traumatized to the point he was unable to free his tears from his eyes. He used his hand to wipe his face, looking strangely at the blood, and then wiped his hands on the ambulance chair he was sitting on.

Omran is said to have been rescued by the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, after the bomb hit the building. The White Helmets is a volunteer rescue group operating within rebel-held territories in Syria.

After giving him first aid in the ambulance – where the shocking images of him were captured to show to the rest of the world – Omran was rushed by members of the group to a nearby hospital.

Doctors said Omran was very lucky to have sustained only light head wounds, which are not life-threatening. However, one of the doctors told James Coomarasamy on the BBC Newshour program that although Omran has been treated and discharged, the trauma he sustained from the incident is still haunting him. He said Omran has been reunited with his family, adding that Omran’s images have showed people around the world the horrors of a seemly never ending war in the country.

When the video and still images of Omran were posted on social media, many audiences reacted angrily, accusing the warring factions of total disregard for human life. The images and the video have been shared thousands of times on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook.

According to the president of the International Red Cross, Peter Maurer, the battle for Aleppo has become one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times.  “No one and nowhere is safe. Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. The scale of the suffering is immense. People live in a state of fear. Children have been have been traumatized,” Mr Maurer said.

Recently, a group of 15 medical doctors, claiming to be the last remaining doctors in Aleppo, wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama, criticizing him and his government for failing to bring an end to the suffering of the Syrian people.

The civil war in Syria is almost in its fifth year. Rebels backed by United States led Western countries, and Sunni countries in the Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia, want to remove the country’s president Bashar al-Assad from power.

Look carefully into his eyes. he is silent, but he tells you a lot.
From under rubble .. #Aleppo today pic.twitter.com/xtjN0dqm3k

— Luna Watfa (@luna_alabdalla) August 17, 2016

Assad on the other hand, is supported by Russia and Iran. Especially with Russia behind him, his grip has tightened on the country, and is refusing to step down.  Before Russia’s intervention in the war, ISIS and rebels had seized majority part of the country. However, recent Russian bombardments have allowed Assad’s troops to retake the majority of the lost territories, but the bombardments and the frequent shellings have affected the civilian population badly.

More than half of the country’s 22 million people have been forced out of their homes. Media estimates the death toll, since the war began in 2011, can be put at 280,000. However, recently the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura estimated that the actual death toll could be as high as 400,000.

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