Picture of 4-Year-Old Syrian Girl 'Surrendering' to Photojournalist Goes Viral
A picture of a little girl from Syria posing as if she is surrendering to a photojournalist has gone viral.
The four-year-old girl, named Hudea, appeared to have thought that the camera used by the photojournalist was a weapon, according to Buzzfeed.
The image has made the rounds online, first in Turkey and recently in the U.S. after being posted on Twitter by Nadia Abu Shaban, a photojournalist based in Gaza.
The BBC traced the photographer, Osman Sağırlı, who caught the moment on camera.
"I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon," Sağırlı was quoted as telling the BBC. "İ realized she was terrified after I took it, and looked at the picture, because she bit her lips and raised her hands. Normally kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera."
Sağırlı, who covered war and natural disasters for Türkiye newspaper for 25 years, took the photo last December.
At that time, Hudea had taken refuge with her mother and two siblings at a camp on the Turkish border after her father died in a bombing in Hama, according to the photographer.
A newspaper clipping from January with Hudea's picture went viral in Turkey on Twitter at the time, with many affected by the little girl's fearful gaze.
The clipping said: "Her face tightens immediately. She bites her lower lip and slowly raises her hands. She stands still without a word. It isn't easy to console the child who thinks that the camera looking at her is a gun.
"Her name is Hudea... She is only 4 years old. She lost her dad in the bombing of Hama. She took refuge at the Atme camp at the Turkish border with her mom and [two] siblings."
Around 10 million Syrians are seeking asylum, refugees, or displaced since the Syrian civil war started in March 2011, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
