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#SolidarityWithKarim: The Syrian baby without an eye

December 20, 2017 at 1:44 pm

A Syrian orphan is covering his eye in support of the Syrian baby Karim who lost an eye and suffered head injuries after the Assad Regime attacked a marketplace in Syria [Cem Genco/Anadolu Agency]

An image of a Syrian baby injured by government forces in the province of Eastern Ghouta has prompted social media activists to voice their condemnation via the hashtag #SolidarityWithKarim.

The three-month-old, known only by his first name Karim, lost his left eye and suffered wounds to his skull after attacks on the besieged province, which also killed his mother.

Eastern Ghouta is one of four de-escalation zones established in May by Russia, Iran and Turkey in order to stem the bloodshed of Syria’s six-year civil war. However, the region has been subjected to intensified air strikes from the Syrian regime in recent months, despite such attacks being expressly forbidden by the terms of the agreement, as well as a tightening of the blockade on food and aid.

Read: Civilians live a ‘nightmare’ in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

Syrians on the ground and activists across the world have taken to social media to voice their solidarity with people in Ghouta, uploading pictures of themselves with their hands covering one eye as a tribute to Karim.

Syrian refugee Bana Alabed, who rose to prominence via social media during the siege of Aleppo, also took part in the campaign, calling for the attacks to stop.

The British Foreign Office posted a tweet with permanent representative to the UN Mathew Ryecroft also photographed covering one eye.

“When we gather in the #UN, we warn that inaction means more people died and the bombing of more schools, more children. This is what we mean. The bombing and blockade must come to an end,” the tweet reads.

Turkish Agricultural Minister Ahmet Esref Fakibaba also took part in the campaign.

Civil defence teams from Aleppo and the Syrian White Helmets also showed their solidarity, amid aid agencies warning on Monday that the situation in Ghouta had reached a critical point. As have medical teams from across war-torn Syria

https://twitter.com/Noor_and_Alaa/status/943133112657219584

There are an estimated 400,000 people trapped in the opposition enclave outside the capital. The area has the highest rate of acute malnutrition recorded since the start of the conflict.