More stand for Syria's Karim after Anadolu coverage

By Adham Kako

ANKARA

After a 2-month-old Syrian boy lost both his left eye and his mother in a regime attack on a besieged suburb of the capital Damascus, the world began to take an increasingly visible stand.

Since Turkey’s Anadolu Agency first reported the story of the Syrian toddler who became a symbol of Eastern Ghouta, an area besieged by the Bashar al-Assad regime, thousands of people -- both ordinary and well-known -- wanting to show support for Karim have joined campaigns on social media.

Amer Almohibani, the Anatolia Agency freelancer in war-torn Syria who first reported on the tragic case, said that his first visit to the injured orphan threw him into deep sorrow.

“His face was burned my mind, it was an inexpressible feeling,” he said.

After trying without success to shake off the sight of the disfigured boy, Almohibani said he decided to launch a campaign for him on social media under the hashtag #SolidarityWithKarim.

Statesmen and celebrities

Alongside the social media campaign, Anadolu Agency’s continued coverage of Karim’s plight attracted more supporters. Even some statesmen and celebrities signed on, like Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, and French footballer Franck Ribery. All three posted photos of themselves covering one of their eyes in solidarity with Karim.

Turkish officials take a stand

Top Turkish officials also stepped up to make their support loud and clear. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmus posted both messages and photos on their official Twitter accounts in acts of solidarity. Kurtulmus urged more support for the toddler, an unfortunate symbol of the continued human suffering from the Syrian civil war.

World media

Following Anadolu Agency’s lead, top international news outlets such as Britain’s Daily Telegraph, French news agency AFP, German daily Bild, and The Washington Post also shared their solidarity photos on Twitter.

Eastern Ghouta has been under siege by Syrian regime forces since late 2012.

The ongoing blockade has left the district’s roughly 400,000 residents struggling with malnutrition and has paralyzed local healthcare facilities.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.