The Syrian boy soldier with a thousand-yard stare: The sad image of child aged SEVEN

By David Williams

Published: | Updated:

Puffing on a cigarette, a Kalashnikov AK-47 slung awkwardly across his little shoulders, seven-year-old Ahmed stands at a makeshift barricade in Syria.

He is one of the youngest fighters to be swept into his country’s civil war and something in his blank expression seems to hint at horrors that no child of his age should ever have to witness.

The picture was taken in the neighbourhood of Salahadeen, one of the front lines in the battered city of Aleppo.

Scroll down for video

Little warrior: Ahmed, the 7 year old son of a FSA fighter, stands in front of a barricade were he assists his Free Syria Army comrades in the neighborhood of Salahadeen

Little warrior: Ahmed, the 7 year old son of a FSA fighter, stands in front of a barricade were he assists his Free Syria Army comrades in the neighborhood of Salahadeen

Children of war: The photo was taken in front of a barricade in the neighborhood of Salahadeen, Aleppo - the front lines of the bloody Syrian civil war

Children of war: The photo was taken in front of a barricade in the neighborhood of Salahadeen, Aleppo - the front lines of the bloody Syrian civil war

The son of a Free Syrian Army fighter, he is said to help operate a barricade that protects rebels from Syrian army snipers.

Ahmed seemed remarkably relaxed, his right hand and left elbow resting on the rifle, a pose likely to have been copied from the adult fighters around him.

Photojournalist Sebastiano Tomada Piccolomini, 26, took the picture on his second trip to Syria since President Bashar al-Assad has come under intense pressure to quit.

It is thought hundreds of children have taken ‘active roles’ in the conflict, including running supplies and carrying messages between front-line units.

Conflict: A Syrian opposition fighter runs for cover from Syrian army snipers during clashes in the northern city of Aleppo

Conflict: A Syrian opposition fighter runs for cover from Syrian army snipers during clashes in the northern city of Aleppo

Fighting back: Free Syrian Army fighters take their positions as they observe the Syrian army forces base of Wadi al-Deif, at the front line of Maaret al-Numan town, in the Idlib province

Fighting back: Free Syrian Army fighters take their positions as they observe the Syrian army forces base of Wadi al-Deif, at the front line of Maaret al-Numan town, in the Idlib province

The photograph emerged as Samantha Cameron, on a visit to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, claimed innocent childhoods were being ‘smashed to pieces’ by the civil war.

The Prime Minister’s wife – an ambassador for Save the Children – said: ‘It is horrifying to hear the harrowing stories from the children. No child should ever experience what they have.’

Rebels have reacted with anger to a refusal by Nato to supply  Patriot missiles to protect them from Assad’s jets.

Watch video here

Syria

Most watched News videos

Comments 144

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.