23 December 2017•Update: 23 December 2017
ANKARA
The Turkish Red Crescent has reached an injured Syrian infant who has drawn widespread support from social media users worldwide.
"Our friends have reached the baby, and we are meeting his needs," the head of the agency, Kerem Kinik, announced Friday on his Twitter account.
Two-month-old Karim Abdallah, who lost both his left eye and his mother in an air strike last month on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, has become a symbol of resistance to Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Kinik said Karim has awakened people’s sense of humanity with his eye injured by “dirty bombs”.
He added that the attack on an innocent child has brought to light the reality of 400,000 people living under siege for five years. “It is a war crime to confine civilians to hunger,” Kinik wrote.
Kinik also shared photos of the Red Crescent team with Karim on his account.
Since Anadolu Agency first reported the story of the Syrian baby 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.
Thousands of Eastern Ghouta’s residents have been killed or injured during the five-year siege of the rebel-held region.
The blockade has left the district’s 400,000 residents struggling with malnutrition and has paralyzed local healthcare facilities.
Twitter users across the world have posted pictures of themselves with their hand over an eye to show their support. Even some statesmen and celebrities have taken part, including Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft and French footballer Franck Ribery.
Reported by Duygu Yener; Writing by Diyar Guldogan
