Given the past few months we’ve had obsessing over the presidential election, the five-year-old Syrian conflict may not always be at the forefront of our minds, or of our newsfeeds. That’s not to say it isn’t still happening — with heartbreaking consequences.
But this image of Omran Daqneesh — a victim of a Wednesday night attack on Aleppo —has struck a chord with the world.
Watch the video, released by the Aleppo Media Center, showing Omran being brought into the ambulance, and one thing stands out: his lack of tears. But the kid is as old as the conflict itself, and he has never known life without the war’s devastation.
As The New York Times points out, Omran represents all of the innocent lives suffering in the war. With his CatDog t-shirt and ruffled hair, he’s easily relatable. And like Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old child whose lifeless body washed ashore in Turkey nearly one year ago, he offers a chilling reminder that while voters and world leaders argue politics, children are facing daily tragedies.
Look at little #OmranDaqneesh exploring his bloody face instead of discovering the wolrd and new toys and games! pic.twitter.com/8EwKBz4Yfl
— Refaat Alareer- Gaza (@ThisIsGaZa) August 18, 2016
The real representative of the #Syrian people pic.twitter.com/eRPCRJUENU
— Zaher Sahloul (@sahloul) August 18, 2016
Nothing more to say… #OmranDaqneesh pic.twitter.com/WuNspZEItr
— Alara Su (@AlaraSuK) August 18, 2016
If u stay in #Syria you’ll face #OmranDaqneesh Destiny.& if u leave you’ll face #Aylanalkurdi Destiny
what a choice! pic.twitter.com/fYx6Z3WFXD— Luna Watfa (@luna_alabdalla) August 18, 2016
“a picture from a second-grader in Aleppo…dead children are smiling…living ones are crying” https://t.co/Ou9b3Z65Bu pic.twitter.com/fObuQbQ4z2
— MeeshellFooko (@meeshellfooko) August 18, 2016
Omran, his siblings, and parents all survived the attack.
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