Karim, a 40-day old child lost his eye and mother in Syrian air strike, ‘#SolidarityWithKarim’

Syria: A heart wrenching incident in Syria where a one-year-old baby has lost an eye has gone viral with users showing solidarity with the baby by sharing pictures of themselves covering one eye.

The Syrian government’s air strike on rebel bastion on October 29th near Damacus has severely wounded the baby, Karim and his mother died in the strike. That strike left a crescent-shaped scarring where his left eye should be and a dark red welt on his forehead.

The users on Social media are sharing their pictures on Twitter and Facebook with one eye covered with the hashtag #SolidarityWithKarim.

The campaign even reached the United Nations, where British ambassador Matthew Rycroft tweeted a photograph of himself at the Security Council, his right hand over his eye.

The British ambassador also wrote that ‘When we sit around the UNSC & warn that inaction will mean more people are going to die. More schools bombed. More children scarred. This is what we mean.’ ‘We must see an end to the bombardment & siege of Eastern Ghouta.’

The Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmus tweeted that ‘Even if the world remains silent, and nobody hears the screams from Syria, we will be the voice, eye and ear’ of baby Karim.

Amer Almohibany, who launched the campaign and also a freelance photographer in Eastern Ghouta said that ‘I visited the baby, and he made his mark on me even before taking his picture. It haunted me.’

He further said that ‘The goal of the campaign is to… bring to the world the voice of this baby, who lost his eye and his mother.’

Since 2011 when the conflict in Syria broke out, more than 340,000 people have been killed and half the country’s population displaced.

Abu Jamil, the brain surgeon who treated Karim told that the damage to his frontal lobe and left eye would likely leave him suffering long-term effects. He also added that ‘The frontal lobe plays an essential role in a human being’s comprehension, intelligence, and memory,’ said the 50-year-old doctor.

‘It’s treatable with behavioural and cognitive therapy… and cosmetic surgery, but not in Ghouta. If he could leave Syria, it would be different.’

Firas al-Abdallah, a 24-year-old photographer said that “we wanted to draw the world’s attention to the crimes committed by the Syrian regime against residents of besieged Eastern Ghouta.”