The photographer who took the photo of a little five-year-old boy from Syria that went viral and broke people’s hearts around the world has revealed the story of what happened when it was taken.
Mahmoud Rislan is a war photographer. He has seen many attacks like this one and says that every time, he cries.
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This time, the attack was just 300 metres from his home, and he saw the ‘White Helmets’, a group of people who have taken it upon themselves to rescue civilians, pick up a bunch of children like the little boy.
He was filming the little boy, called Omran, and was so taken that he decided to take a still picture.
“The tears started to drop as I took the photo,” he wrote. “It is not the first time I’ve cried. I have cried many times while filming traumatised children. I always cry. We war photographers always cry. Last night everyone cried.
“Omran’s affected me because he was silent. He didn’t cry. He didn’t say a word. He was shocked.”
He thought of his own child, a seven-day-old baby girl. Omran’s sister turned to him and asked him to stop filming, to which he said “Sure my darling, I will not.”
Luckily, all of Omran’s family are safe and alive. However his mother has bad leg injuries, his dad suffered a minor head injury, and his seven-year-old sister has undergone an operation.
Rislan left his readers with one final thought.
“If people knew what it was like maybe the war will stop the bombing will stop.
Maybe Omran and my daughter Amal can live normally like all children in the world.”