Child victims of Syrian war: Harrowing pictures of children injured in airstrike in Douma just days after the plight of Omran touched the world
Yet more harrowing pictures have revealed the horrors children are facing in Syria as the civil war rages on.
Distressing images from Douma, east of the Syrian capital Damascus, show children covered in ash as they receive treatment at a makeshift hospital following a devastating airstrike.
Four people, including at least two children, were killed in the bombing in the rebel-held town yesterday.
The deadly attack comes just six days after a picture of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, who was seen dazed and soaked in his own blood in an ambulance after his home in Aleppo was destroyed, shook the world.
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The disturbing photos – many of which are too graphic to be shown – show children crying as they try to comprehend the pain and suffering that is unfolding before their eyes.
Some of the young boys and girls are seen howling in pain, while others simply stare into space in a daze.
Other images taken in the medical center in Douma show distraught parents weeping hysterically over the dead bodies of their children.
One particularly haunting photo shows a small girl staring blankly into the distance as she sits on a hospital bed in a dress which is covered in the debris of her home.
The little girl is covered in cuts and bruises and her hair is matted with blood and ash, but she appears to be too stunned by the horrific scene to feel the pain.
The airstrike is likely to have come from forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
There was international uproar last week after Omran Daqneesh was pictured covered in blood as he was taken to hospital after his home and entire neighbourhood in Aleppo were reduced to rubble.
Footage shows Omran wiping his dusty forehead with his hand, before realising he is bleeding, and he rests his hands back in his lap.
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The child is not crying, but waits quietly as his rescuers leave the ambulance to save the lives of four other children, before taking them all to the hospital.
He is wearing a T-shirt with the popular cartoon character CatDog on it, barely visible through the blood and dust.
He was pulled from the rubble with his 10-year-old brother Ali, who later died.
Omran’s father said he had been sitting with Omran in the living room of his home when the airstrike hit.
His wife, another son and two daughters were also inside, while Ali was just outside with friends and also caught in the explosion.
The father, who gave his name only as Abu Ali – meaning ‘father of Ali’ – fearing reprisals from the Syrian regime, said: ‘It is very painful to watch your children falling in front of your eyes.’
A source close to the family said: ‘They seem so lost and confused. I think they are very shocked. There have been many offers to help, even to get them out of there, but the father is refusing. He said, “I don’t want money. I don’t want help”.’
Russia has denied being behind the strike on the Qaterji district which killed at least eight.
Nearly half a million people have been killed in the Syrian civil war, which has been raging on for more than five years. Five million have fled the country and around seven million more are estimated to be internally displaced.
