Amid thick clouds of rising smoke, a small boy lays on the ground, screaming in agony. “Baba, carry me, baba!” He cries out, unable to stand, his legs blown off at the knee.
This is the aftermath of an apparent air raid Thursday in the northwest province in Idlib in northwestern Syria, as shown by a video circulated by Syrian opposition activists on social media.
UK-based monitoring network Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the barrel bomb attack came from Syrian Army warplanes. CNN cannot independently verify claims of the origin of the attack. There’s been no comment from the Syrian regime or Syrian state media.
Opposition activists posted a photo of the boy, identified as Abdul Bassit Al-Satouf, showing him alive, being treated at a hospital.
The airstrike on the small village of al-Habit was one of 10 attacks to hit the southern countryside of Idlib. SOHR reports five people died in the attacks, including a woman and a child.
Since 2015, Idlib has been under rebel-control and is currently covered by a nationwide ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and Turkey in December. The ceasefire requires the Syrian government to halt military operations against anyone who isn’t affiliated with ISIS or other terror groups, state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Several pictures of children impacted by the violence in Syria have captured international attention.
One of the first images to go viral was that of Alan Kurdi, a toddler who had fled Syria with his family only to die in the waters of the Mediterranean. The image of his little body washed up on a Turkish beach became a symbol for the brutality and hopelessness facing those caught in the middle of the fighting.
The video of Omran Daqneesh, a young boy sitting in the back of an ambulance, shocked and covered in dust, moved people to tears in August.
A 2016 report by Save the Children says barrel bombs, airstrikes and shelling are the biggest issues threatening the 250,000 children estimated to be living in besieged areas in Syria.
