Photojournalist tweets heartbreaking picture of Syrian child

Children have been the worst affected in the Syrian conflict with 5.6 million in need of urgent help.

IT puts a devastating war into perspective.
Palestinian-based photojournalist Nadia Abu Shaban has tweeted a heartbreaking picture of a young child with hands raised, thinking a gun was being aimed at his head.

“Thought he has a weapon not a camera so she gave up” reads the caption, with the hashtag #surrended (sic).




The picture is thought to be of four-year-old by Adi Hudea and was reportedly taken by fellow 
photographer Osman Sagirli in 2012. The touching image has struck a chord online and been retweeted more than 8200 times and received dozens of comments from people around the world.

“Shame on humanity, UN and our so called leaders of the free world,” wrote one Twitter user, while others called it “heart wrenching” and “unbelievably sad”.

The photograph cuts to the heart of the reality for children inside Syria, where a five-year civil war has plunged the country into what the UN refers to as the “world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe”. An estimated 220,000 people have died and 12.2 million are thought to be in need of humanitarian assistance, with ordinary people facing daily threats of rape, torture and murder at the hands of both government and rebel groups.

United Nations under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Valeria Amos told the Security Council last week the situation is becoming “dramatically worse” and children have been “particularly badly affected”.


The UN estimates 5.6 million children need help and two million have been denied an education due to the conflict. The global organisation has also been forced to cut rations by 30 per cent due to a lack of funding.

“Day after day, month after month, year after year, the death, destruction and violence in Syria grows,” Ms Amos said.
“As Council members have said many times, there is no humanitarian solution to the crisis. The international community must demonstrate greater determination to reach a long overdue political solution.”

A girl in Kobane after IS fighters were driven out of the town.  Source: AFP