Syrian father Amjad al-Abduallah drew horror around the world on Friday,when a picture was circulated on social media of him desperately trying to rescue his children from their collapsing house.
In the image, the father appears hitting his forehead as he attempts to reach three of his children after an airstrike on Wednesday by a government warplane in the north-western province of Idlib, which was the last major rebel province in Syria.
The picture, taken by a Syrian photographer working for local news website SY24, shows one of the young girls clutching the hand of her infant sister to prevent her from falling amid the debris.
The younger girl named Tuka survived, while her older sister Riwan died from injuries she sustained in the airstrike in Idlib’s town of Arih, a local doctor told dpa on Friday
“Today we lost Riwan, three years-old, due to serious internal injuries, especially in the liver,’’ said the doctor, who gave his first name as Ismail for security reasons.
A fourth sister, named Riham, and their mother had already died as a result of the same attack. The third sibling in the picture, Dalia, is still in hospital.
“Tuka was weaned off the ventilator yesterday and she is doing well.
Her other sister Dalia, 9, is also doing well, although she has a broken jaw and multiple bruises,’’ added Ismail, working at a hospital run by the Syrian American Medical Society in Idlib.
Since April, government forces, supported by allied Russians, have pursued a relentless campaign in Idlib, resulting in at least 800 civilian deaths and massive displacement.
