Syrian Childhood Amidst Conflict

It is spread across all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds.

It is the common thread in everyone's conversations.

My seven-year-and-seven-month-old son

is like a young man.

If he's hungry, he cries. If he's thirsty, he cries. If he's cold, he cries.

He doesn't say, "I want a Russian rifle," or, "I want a cannon," or "I want

a bomb." He says, "I want food," or he doesn't say anything, he cries.

so we know what he wants,

He knows how to talk. Otherwise, he would have said it.

He would have said, "Get us out of here, God willing."

What sin? What sin

is it that our ideology is enlightened? It is not a terrorist ideology.

It is not

a dark ideology.

Tragic images and scenes recounted by witness Barakat about the reality

of Syrian childhood in the town of Adra al-Omalia after the invasion

by armed militants. There may be images and scenes

even more harrowing, recounted by witness Hishma about the enslavement of women

there.

When they entered, from the moment they entered, I swear to God, the first thing they did was cut off heads.

There was a young man from our neighbor's, named Abu Zaki. They cut off his head and put it

They cut off his head and put it at Al-Youn, at the Al-Youn complex.

Al-Youn. That was the first day.

And then they started, of course, whenever the army

First, they detained civilians and used them as human shields.

Some of them, they took them

captive to Douma. They took women captive,

women.

They marched them through Adra al-Omalia, barefoot and naked.

Then,

when the army tried to enter, they began

throwing children from rooftops and balconies.

As the camera continues to observe Syrians' reaction to the sum of these

sad and tragic fates.