A Syrian child so scarred by war that she stares into the camera lens, believing it to be the barrel of a gun, with her hands raised in surrender. The photo was taken in a Syrian refugee camp in December 2014 by Turkish photographer Osman Sağırlı.
The fear in the eyes of the little girl, who bit her lip to stop crying, sparked an outpouring of emotion over the “heartbreaking” image showing how “humanity has failed” in Syria’s civil war.
Here is what the photographer told the BBC:
I used a telephoto lens and she thought it was a weapon. I realized she was terrified after I took a picture of her and looked at the picture because she bit her lip and raised her hands. Children usually run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera. You know there are displaced people in the camps. It is more logical to see what they suffered not through adults, but through children. Children are the ones who reflect feelings with their innocence.
Osman Sağırlı
Can you imagine what this child went through to raise their hands in front of the lens?
