New photos of Omran Daqneesh, the now five-year-old boy whose bloody face became the poster child for Aleppo’s suffering have emerged.
ABC News reports:
A new photo of Omran Daqneesh, the 5-year-old boy whose image became a symbol of the suffering in Aleppo after he was photographed following an August 2016 attack, surfaced Monday after he and his family were interviewed by a pro-government channel in Syria called Al Mayadeen TV.
The image of Omran is the first one seen publicly since the picture of him bloodied and dusty in the back of an ambulance in Aleppo went viral after he was rescued from a destroyed building in the besieged city’s Qaterji neighborhood following an airstrike.
Omran’s family never fled the city after the attack and ABC News is told they remain loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In the family’s Al Mayadeen TV interview, which airs tonight, Omran’s father tells pro-Assad journalist Kinana Allouche that rebels and international media only used his son’s image to attack the Syrian government.
“They wanted to trade in his blood and publish his photos,” he said, according to reports.
The father added that Omran’s 10-year-old brother, Ali, was killed in the same strike that injured Omran.
According to the doctor who treated Omran after the August 2016 attack, he was covered in dust and bleeding from the head.
“Omran was scared and dazed at the same time. He wasn’t crying at all. It seemed like he had been asleep when it happened,” Mohammad, who treated Omran, told ABC News.
Mohammad said Omran suffered one simple wound to the scalp and was discharged from the hospital after two hours.
Some skepticism on social media:
Wow. Last year, the White Helmets said Assad bombed this boy. Turns out they lied. He is fine and his family supports the Syrian government. pic.twitter.com/BgSszmQAgw
— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) June 5, 2017
Omran Daqneesh is fine and living in Aleppo. (For those who understand Arabic, watch the video). https://t.co/XHTIrNY76w
— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) June 5, 2017
Omran’s father said rebels offered him “big amounts of money” to lie about the Syrian gov’t but he refused. This won’t be on CNN. #CNNisISIS
— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) June 5, 2017
He was used in an anti-gov propaganda, but his family supports the Assad regime??
— DWZA (@D_W_Z_A) June 5, 2017
