2019 Photo Contest, Spot News, 2nd Prize

Syria, No Exit

Photographer

Mohammed Badra

European Pressphoto Agency

19 March, 2018

A boy looks at damage in a house hit during overnight shelling in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Syria.

By February 2018, the people of Eastern Ghouta, a suburban district outside Damascus and one of the last rebel enclaves in the ongoing Syrian conflict, had been under siege by government forces for five years. During the final offensive, Eastern Ghouta came under rocket fire and air bombardment, including at least one alleged gas attack—on the village of al-Shifunieh, on 25 February. Figures are difficult to verify, but Médecins Sans Frontiѐres (MSF) reported 4,829 wounded and 1,005 killed between 18 February and 3 March, according to data from medical facilities they supported alone. MSF also reported 13 hospitals and clinics damaged or destroyed in just three days. Reports on the end of the siege in Eastern Ghouta are conflicting, though the Syrian army appear to have recaptured most of the south of the country by July. UNICEF reported the siege of Eastern Ghouta to have ended by late March, with limited humanitarian access becoming available. 

About the photographer

Mohammed Badra

Mohammed Badra is a photographer from Syria. It was never his intention to become a photographer, he had to become one out of necessity. In 2012, when the Syrian Revolution start...

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/60
Focal length
24 mm
F-Stop
f/2.8
ISO
6400
Camera
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II

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