Social Pictures: Sharon Corr debuts new Boots No7 Future Renew product
Social Pictures: Sharon Corr debuts new Boots No7 Future Renew product

IMAGE

Need to boost your productivity? Make a not-to-do list
Need to boost your productivity? Make a not-to-do list

Sinead Brady

IMAGE Interiors spring/summer is out now! Find out what’s inside…
IMAGE Interiors spring/summer is out now! Find out what’s inside…

Megan Burns

What you think parenting is like versus what it is actually like
What you think parenting is like versus what it is actually like

Amanda Cassidy

It may appear tiny from the front, but this Ballsbridge cottage on the market for €750,000 is surprisingly spacious
It may appear tiny from the front, but this Ballsbridge cottage on the market for...

Megan Burns

How to give your home a wellness makeover (without spending a fortune)
How to give your home a wellness makeover (without spending a fortune)

Amanda Cassidy

Does disordered eating fuel our consumption of ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos?
Does disordered eating fuel our consumption of ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos?

IMAGE

Irish designer Jonathan Anderson named among TIME’s people of the year
Irish designer Jonathan Anderson named among TIME’s people of the year

Sarah Gill

Do you know what the pill is actually doing to your body?
Do you know what the pill is actually doing to your body?

Sophie Morris

This Clontarf home has been transformed with a spacious extension full of delicately dappled light
This Clontarf home has been transformed with a spacious extension full of delicately dappled light

Megan Burns

Image / Editorial

Syria: The Photo That Will Break Your Heart


By IMAGE
31st Mar 2015
Syria: The Photo That Will Break Your Heart

Last week it was this viral video of an Irish guy phoning his nana that had us all emotional, this week it’s a photo of a four-year-old Syrian boy who had his photo taken but not before surrendering, his hands in the air, as he mistook the camera for a gun.

Not sure we can quite put into words the poignancy of this image that has now gone viral. From the sad, resigned look on the little boy’s face to the realisation that someone so young would come to expect that they would be met with a gun and automatically surrender themselves in fear, it just gives you a WHOLE lot of perspective.

Kids are supposed to be smiling for photos, preoccupied with the things that toddlers should be doing – playing, learning and discovering life’s pleasures as opposed to finding themselves in the midst of war. War has no place in the life of a child, let alone anybody else. It’s so easy to look upon this as fiction, his reaction is that hard to stomach, but sadly, it’s very very real.

The photo first appeared on Instagram, shared by photojournalist Nadia Abu Shaban. The photo is said to have been taken by Osman Sa??rl?.

As to what exactly happened as this photo was taken, or the story behind the photo, nothing’s been verified for sure. However, a Turkish report identifies the child as Adi Hudea, and claims the little boy fled from the Syrian war, along with his family, finding refuge in a Turkish camp where this photo was taken back in 2012.

@CarolineForan