A heart-rending photograph of a Syrian baby who lost an eye in an air strike has set off a viral social media campaign, with users sharing pictures of themselves covering one eye.
The shot depicts 40-day-old Karim Abdallah, wrapped in a puffy red jacket, with crescent-shaped scarring where his left eye should be and a dark red welt on his forehead.
An October 29 government air strike on a rebel bastion near Damascus severely wounded Karim and killed his mother, according to relatives and the doctor who treated him – and kicked off a worldwide support campaign.
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Users are taking pictures of themselves covering one of their eyes and sharing them on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #SolidarityWithKarim.
A picture taken on December 4 shows Syrian baby Karim Abdallah who lost his left eye and his mother in government shelling on the town of Hammuriya. Photo: Agence France-Presse
The campaign even reached the United Nations, where British ambassador Matthew Rycroft tweeted a photograph of himself at the Security Council, his right hand over his eye.
