Children played an important role in the Peaceful Revolution by participating in demonstrations despite the danger.

Many of them chose to try their hand at the freedom of expression for the first time in their lives, letting their anger out to demand their rights as human beings.

This photo was taken in the city of Duma during peaceful protests for freedom and against Bashar Assad on February 10, 2017.

A peaceful demonstration by residents of the city of Douma, February 10, 2017, against the Syrian regime and its dictator Bashar al-Assad, demanding that he leaves Syria to its people.

For the past eight years, the Syrian people have never stopped peacefully demonstrating for the Syrian Revolution, demanding Bashar al-Assad to leave Syria and leave it in the hands of the free people.

This prompted Assad to increase the impact of violence and kill even more Syrian citizens. The photograph was taken on January 13, 2017, of a protest in the town of Saqba, Eastern Ghouta.

Children pick up some of the items left over after a Syrian forces aircraft bombed their residential neighborhood in the center of the town of Ein Tarma, Eastern Ghouta, on July 24, 2017.

During the years of the severe siege imposed by the Syrian regime on Eastern Ghouta, the proportion of poverty increased considerably for most families and children who became orphans or homeless after losing their parents or their homes. The two photographs of the two sisters were taken in the town of Kafar Batna in Eastern Ghouta on August 12, 2017.

After enduring several raids by the Russian air force and another by the Syrian regime targeting their homes during the latest military campaign against Eastern Ghouta, residents take advantage of a moment of respite amidst the shelling to leave their shelters, repair the damage and inspect their neighborhoods, Douma city, February 7, 2018.

Three friends meet on the street in their neighborhood of Douma, where a little girl shows her necklace to her friends selling food on a chair, on May 28, 2016.

Malnutrition of the besieged in Eastern Ghouta." Moustapha is 9 years old and lives with his parents and six siblings in Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Moustapha and his family have become poor and have less and less access to food.

Due to malnutrition, his weight has dropped from 10 kg to 7 kg.

"During the night, Mustapha's hunger pain worsens and he lets himself be.

During the night, Moustapha's hunger pain worsens and he falls to the ground, holding his stomach and begging for food. My heart breaks for him. He should be much bigger and stronger. He just stands there, silent, staring, barely speaking," says Moustapha's mother.

Moustapha is one of the hundreds of malnourished children in besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Both photos were taken on November 30, 2017.

Malnutrition of the besieged in Eastern Ghouta." Moustapha is 9 years old and lives with his parents and six siblings in Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Moustapha and his family have become poor and have less and less access to food.

Due to malnutrition, his weight has dropped from 10 kg to 7 kg.

"During the night, Mustapha's hunger pain worsens and he lets himself be.

During the night, Moustapha's hunger pain worsens and he falls to the ground, holding his stomach and begging for food. My heart breaks for him. He should be much bigger and stronger. He just stands there, silent, staring, barely speaking," says Moustapha's mother.

Moustapha is one of the hundreds of malnourished children in besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Both photos were taken on November 30, 2017.

A child lost one of his relatives as a result of shelling by the Syrian regime army in the residential area of the city of Douma, November 17, 2017.

"If the bloodshed by our children was oil, the world would intervene immediately,” says a banner is written by activists in the city of Douma on November 12, 2017. This sentence is addressed to the UN team and the International Committee of the Red Cross to express the anger of the besieged and to protest the total inaction to stop the Syrian army's massacres against Eastern Ghouta.

View of the city of Douma taken from the minaret of the city's Grand Mosque before sunset on February 16, 2016. The photo shows the extensive destruction after three years of relentless bombing by the Syrian army and the Russian air force against the residential areas of the city.

Abo Salamah" "5 until now!!!" .....

I still remember that day, July 27, 2016, at noon. It was a sunny day on the planet Douma, full of bombs and airstrikes. Since arriving in the area that had been targeted that day, and as I had become accustomed to doing, I had observed the work of a Civil Defense team extracting the wounded from a building destroyed by the regime's air force. I watched this man, known to his friends as "Abo Salamah", whose real name was Muhammed Masarweh. When I saw him, I remembered him clearly and easily, because I used to see him on the spot, in every dangerous situation. Abo Salamah, as the head of the Civil Defense, used to be inside the first vehicle going to the strike site. Sometimes even. On that day, the rescuers were working very hard to free the wounded from the bombing of that hellish rooftop. Abo Salamah was down there talking to an old woman who was trapped. I couldn't understand their dialogue, only muffled sounds came through... but he seemed to be encouraging her. After a while, Muhammed and his team succeeded: they pulled this old woman out of the roof rubble of her house. "5 so far!!!" shouted Abo Salamah after he managed to save 5 civilians that day, in front of the crowd that was watching this tragedy. I took this picture of him as he made this hand sign, indicating the number of civilians they were able to save. During the latest military campaign by the Assad regime and Russian forces against Eastern Ghouta in early 2018, Abo Salamah was captured alive by Assad's army while visiting his own farm on the outskirts of Douma town. He was executed with a bullet to the head. His body was found a few days later, in his farm, after the rebels had made some progress on the ground. The news of his death shocked us all. March 9, 2018...that was his day.

Two children watch a UNICEF vehicle enter Douma with a UN convoy to assess the situation in the city during the latest military campaign by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally on Eastern Ghouta, August 17, 2017.

In downtown Douma, Eastern Ghouta, photo of a truck belonging to a Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy amid a scene of daily life: a wounded child crosses the street and another works for a living, August 17, 2017.

During the years of the severe siege imposed by the Syrian regime on Eastern Ghouta, the proportion of poverty increased considerably for most families and children who became orphans or homeless after losing their parents or their homes. The two photographs of the two sisters were taken in the town of Kafar Batna in Eastern Ghouta on August 12, 2017.

The last photo was taken in Douma, just before we moved to northern Syria after the Syrian regime's latest military campaign, backed by Russian forces, against civilians in Eastern Ghouta. This is what remains of the neighbourhood where I lived in Douma on March 30, 2018.

Surviving civilians fleeing through the ash cloud caused by an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on a residential neighbourhood in the central city of Douma, February 25, 2017.

Photo taken at the time of the explosion of one of the artillery shells launched daily by the Syrian regime's army guns on a residential building in the city of Douma on November 17, 2016.

After an initial airstrike, a civilian looks up at the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of Syrian fighter jets flying overhead to carry out another attack on this targeted neighbourhood, Douma, in Eastern Ghouta, on November 10, 2016.

The "Night of Napalm" is how the population of the city of Douma refers to the night of March 23, 2018. Indeed, more than 20 air raids by the Russian Air Force were conducted that night with napalm ammunition, an incendiary weapon prohibited by international conventions. The photo shows an entire building ravaged by flames following the raids that night.

An injured civilian is rescued by Syrian Civil Defense "White Helmets" from an area targeted by airstrikes by Syrian regime forces on January 8, 2018.

A martyr is carried by his relatives and the White Helmets out of the morgue to his final resting place in the cemetery in the city of Douma.

He was killed by an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on his neighbourhood on November 27, 2017.

A man carrying two children shortly after an airstrike carried out by a Syrian regime forces aircraft on his neighbourhood, Douma city, Eastern Ghouta, on the morning of August 23, 2016.

A civilian carrying one of his neighbors, injured in an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on their neighborhood, Douma city, Eastern Ghouta, November 1, 2015.

Civilian martyr and olive branches, symbol of peace. One of the olive branches was stained with blood after a strike by Syrian regime air forces hit a neighbourhood in the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta on November 1, 2015.

A survivor walks among the rubble in a street of his destroyed neighbourhood during an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on the city of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on November 1, 2015.

A member of the Syrian Civil Defense "White Helmets" fighting a fire that had broken out in a store after an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on Kouatli Avenue, Douma city, Eastern Ghouta, November 8, 2015.

Inside the shelters and underground corridors underground in Douma, where families lived without light, food, running water, or the ability to heat despite the cold, February 21, 2018.

One of the underground shelters in Douma, where families lived for almost 60 days under the intensive shelling, without light, food, running water, or the possibility of heating despite the cold, February 21, 2018.

In the heart of an underground shelter in the city of Douma, a child holds his little brother a bottle of milk, near a bright spot , February 21, 2018.

M4 M10 highway roads to Idlib, Latakia, and Ariha cities. April 4, 2018.

I took this photo as we were 3 on a bike making a tour in the city of Saraqib where we first settled down after our arrival from Eastern Ghouta on the 1st April 2018. Photo on April 4, 2018.

The road to Afrin city, and the northern suburb of Aleppo. I took this photo when we moved on to Azaz city to stay there until the last day of our settlement in Syria. April 10, 2018.

The last struggle, getting out of the hell.

“Keep going, stay strong, forget your shoulders pain and keep walking”

The thoughts I had while I was carrying my little brother “Muhammed”, seven-year-old in my hands and my over 20kg back bag on my shoulders through our struggle in the last deadly journey we had.. “out of hell”.

We started after we deal with a smuggler who just looks like the others, had a gun on pants, had tattoos on arms, smoking every minute, and knows nothing but money and lies.

We considered that we paid for our freedom, and it’s one of our sacrifices we have done for this sake.

We took the last family photo as we did before being displaced from Eastern Ghouta to the north of Syria, we shut the door and said hadn’t looked back.

The smuggler picked us with 5 others at 10:30 pm on 21 July. We were 12 persons, we reached the point of smuggling just 10km before that wall between Syrian-Turkish borders, then the journey of getting out of hell had just begun, it was a torture in itself.

The moon was half in the sky on that warm night when we started walking through the fields of “Dir Swan” town going towards the wall in the midnight, there were hyenas around making that scary yelling, we just ignored and keep walking down of mountains and fields, then we took a rest between olive trees waiting for moonset, I was taking care of my little brother Muhammed, my father taking care my mother, and everyone was looking after the other.

Later, We reached the wall around 1:30 am and kept walking among its edge, that edge was only about 15cm, we walked in a queue for about 1km on that dangerous edge which was getting higher and higher among a mountain, yes that part of the wall we were walking among was built on a mountain, we recognized that once we saw the deep valley and looked down from the 15cm edge we were stepping on, I kept holding my brother’s wrist till I thought my hand will be mixed with his wrist after his leg slid from the edge and I picked him up before he falls down into that 30m deep valley while I was balancing myself with my 20kg back bag on that damn edge of that wall at the tops of those cliffs. Everyone was dealing with his luggage on his back.

Later, we reached that part when the wall ends, the Turkish gendarme didn’t complete it from that side because they surely know that no human being can reach this point after those deadly high cliffs, and we had done it and reached there. We step out of that edge with a first step on the Turkish lands, then we ran into there in the darkness of that night around 2:15 am.

Then, the other part of that deadly journey had begun, we kept walking down in valleys, between stony cliffs, and down of mountains for nearly 3 hours, we took rest 6 times for about 5 minutes each time, we get tired but we kept walking and walking behind guys work for the smuggler, I carried my brother several times and jumped with him over a river was running in one of the valleys we walked through, as I also held my mother’s hand to help her moving fast, she got tired more than anyone of us.

During walking between those dark stony valleys, I had a lot of thoughts was coming in and out in mind, “why borders are closed in front of civilians faces? Why do we have to pay a lot for a right of human rights that everyone on Earth has? Why do we have to get through all of this torture?”.

I kept answering my questions with one thing, “I will beat the circumstances, and keep struggling until the end of this, no I won’t look back”.

It was dawn when we walked over 5km inside Turkey, we ran out of water and we all were exhausted, thirsty, and barely could move our legs to take steps, we reached “Kilis” city farms, then suddenly, the taxi that the smuggler deal with had come over the farms to pick up to a flat in Kilis, it was 6:30 am, then we rest for an hour to complete to Istanbul via another taxi with over 16 hours travel by car, we reached our relatives’ house in Istanbul at 10:30 pm. 22 July, and slept like dead people.

That was the last struggle, the last torture of hell, getting out of hell.

A souvenir photo during sunset near Saraqib city. April 4, 2018.

The Roman Bridge north of Afrin, Syria. April 16, 2018.

Photos of an ancient Roman monument north of Afrin city in the north of Syria. April 16, 2018.

Photos of an ancient Roman monument north of Afrin city in the north of Syria. April 16, 2018.

A souvenir photo beside a road panel leads to Damascus on M4 highway near Saraqib city in Idlib, north of Syria. “The photo is a message that says that we’re coming back”. April 4, 2018.

A souvenir photo beside a destroyed tank in downtown Azaz near Aleppo north of Syria is left as a memorial of the liberation of the city. May 19, 2018.