Ali Daqneesh, Older Brother of Boy in Viral Syrian Photo, Dies in Airstrike
10-year-old Ali Daqneesh died Saturday after an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria.
The Wednesday airstrike in Aleppo, Syria that killed at least eight people has resulted in another fatality: 10-year-old Ali Daqneesh.
NBC reports Daqneesh was the older brother of Omran Daqneesh, the five-year-old subject of a viral, heartbreaking photograph taken by Al Jazeera photojournalist Mahmoud Raslan that depicted a bloody and dusty Omran sitting inside an ambulance shortly after the airstrike. While his younger brother reportedly received only superficial injuries, Daqneesh died Saturday after sustaining fatal injuries from the Wednesday blast, which struck his family's home.
From NBC:
Daqneesh was initially pulled from the rubble alongside three other siblings and his parents, NBC also reported. Raslan told NBC that rescue workers and journalists flocked to the scene to help rescue children, where they "were passing [...] from one balcony to the other." The building collapsed shortly thereafter.
The BBC also reported on Saturday that Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim announced the country would play "a more active role" in bringing the Syrian war to a close. Turkey currently hosts about 2.7 million Syrian refugees and backs rebel groups that are fighting to oust Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake released a statement Friday condemning the violence in Aleppo, calling the 100,000 Syrian children who live in the city "trapped in [...] horror."
"They are all suffering things no child should suffer – or even see," Lake said. “And empathy is not enough. Outrage is not enough. Empathy and outrage must be matched by action."
