Beirut - An image of a
Syrian baby's striking scar trailing down what used to be his
left eye has sparked a global campaign of solidarity, with
people around world posting photos on Twitter of themselves
covering one eye.
Amer Almohibany, a Syrian freelance photojournalist
documenting Syria's six-year war said he was haunted by a baby
named Karim who lost his eye and mother in the bombing of
Eastern Ghouta, a besieged rebel enclave near Damascus.
"His image was permanently etched in my mind," Almohibany
told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
Syrian baby Karim Abdallah lost his left eye and his mother in government shelling on the nearby town of Hammouria, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus. Picture: Handout / #SolidarityWithKarim campaign / AFP
"I was putting my eye on the viewfinder and I was truly
crying as I am seeing Karim through my camera ... I knew that
his story was not going to pass through like any other."
The U.N. says about 400 00 civilians besieged in Eastern
Ghouta face "complete catastrophe" because aid deliveries by the
Syrian government were blocked and hundreds of people needing
urgent medical evacuation were not allowed out.
I'm in solidarity with karim a syrian child two-month-old, lost his eye and broke the skull of his head and lost his mother when they came under artillery bombardment of the Assad regime on the #EasternGhouta
He lives alone without a mother. #SolidarityWithKarim
Join our campaign pic.twitter.com/13xS97N7Kx
— Amer almohibany (@amer_almohibany) December 17, 2017
Almohibany, 28, posted a photo on Twitter last week of
himself covering his eye, along with photos of two-month-old
Karim with the hashtag #SolidarityWithKarim.
The campaign inspired others to respond, including Britain's
United Nations (U.N.) ambassador Matthew Rycroft who tweeted a
photo of himself with one hand over his eye, seated at a U.N.
Security Council meeting.
"When we sit around the #UNSC and warn that inaction will
mean more people are going to die. More schools bombed. More
children scarred. This is what we mean," he posted.
"We must see an end to the bombardment."
A girl poses covering one eye with her hand in the rebel-held town of Douma in Syria's besieged eastern Ghouta region. Picture: #SolidarityWithKarim campaign / AFP
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a
statement this week that, the humanitarian situation in Eastern
Ghouta has reached "a critical point", with limited aid, a
frightening food shortage and soaring food prices.
As images of injured, starving or dying children only stay
in the news for fleeting moments, Almohibany does not think his
picture will trigger real change. But he will keep "showing the
truth" of the innocent victims of war, he said.
"I was so happy with people's interactions," he said.
"I felt like we are not alone in this trap, someone is
listening to me, my voice is not dying."