Boy rescued from Aleppo rubble turns icon of Syrian conflict

The image of the stunned and weary looking boy, sitting in an orange chair inside an ambulance covered in dust and with blood on his face, encapsulates the horrors inflicted on the war-ravaged northern city and is being widely shared on social media. A doctor in Aleppo on Thursday identified the boy as 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh. Osama Abu al-Ezz confirmed he was brought to the hospital known as “M10” Wednesday night following an air-strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Qaterji with head wounds, but no brain injury, and was later discharged. 

Rescue workers arrived at Qaterji shortly after the strike and began pulling victims from the rubble. Photojournalist Mahmoud Raslan, who took the iconic photo. He said he had passed along three lifeless bodies before receiving the wounded boy. Omran was rescued along with his three siblings, ages 1, 6, and 11, and his mother and father from the rubble of their apartment building. None sustained major injuries.