Video of Aleppo boy post airstrike provokes humanitarian actions

World Today

Video of Aleppo boy post airstrike provokes humanitarian actions

In a video that went viral online, we see 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh being pulled from a damaged building and put into an ambulance. His face is bloody. His body is covered in dust from the rubble.

CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.

The video was distributed by a group aligned with the opposition.

The boy suffered head wounds but was later released from the hospital and is expected to recover.

The video is bringing new attention to the civil war in Syria which has already killed an estimated 250,000. The situation has become direr in recent weeks as both sides are locked in a stalemate in the eastern part of Aleppo as food and other supplies run low.

“They don’t have a lot of access to clean water, very limited access to food, shelter is a problem,”said Helle Thorning-Schmidt from Save the Children, a nongovernmental organization that promotes children’s rights. “And then we look at all the facilities that they need. Health facilities are being bombarded.”

Past attempts to open up humanitarian corridors and establish brief ceasefires have largely failed. The UN Special Envoy for Syria halted a meeting of a humanitarian task force out of frustration after just eight minutes.

The UN is now calling for a 48-hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the hardest hit areas of Aleppo. The Russians, who are aligned with Syrian government forces, and U.S., which supports the opposition, both back the idea of ending the violence.

Until a ceasefire is in place, Syrians like little Omran will continue to suffer.


Greg Ramm on humanitarian crisis in Syria

To talk more about the latest in Syria including humanitarian crisis and ceasefire, CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke with Greg Ramm, vice president for Humanitarian Responses at Save the Children.