Brother of Omran, the bloodied and dazed face of Syrian war, dies in airstrike

The older brother of a Syrian boy pictured bloodied and dazed after an air strike in Aleppo has died of injuries sustained in the same incident. Ali Daqneesh, 10, was wounded in the air strike on Wednesday alongside his three siblings, his mother and his father. A spokesman for the local council of Aleppo said: “He was martyred while in hospital as a result of the same bombardment that their house was subjected to.” His death was a tragic footnote to the story of Omran, whose image was shared online around the world and became a symbol of Syria’s suffering during its long, bloody civil war.

We want to make our voices heard that these children have nothing to do with this war …they’ve got no reason to be involved in this war.

Nurse who treated Omran

In the harrowing footage, Omran is seen running his hand over his face, looking at the blood on his hands and wiping it on the chair as he sits, staring, in an orange chair in the ambulance. The paramedic who was filmed carrying him into the ambulance said cases like Omran’s are a daily occurrence in war-torn Aleppo. “The media reaction was because the strike on the Qaterji neighbourhood was a big massacre so when this child emerged there were lots of journalists,” Ammar Hammami said. “I want to send a message to the world that Omran isn’t the first child to be injured because of Russian airstrikes on Aleppo. Every day we’re losing hundreds of dead and injured just here in Aleppo.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen a child like him. Usually when a child gets out of an airstrike they’re crying, their voice fills up everything but this child didn’t say a thing.

Paramedic Ammar Hammami

Aleppo