These Images Are Taken in Syria, Not Afghanistan
The Claim
The pictures depict Afghan kids holding United States missiles and shells after 20 years of war.
Emerging story
The Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman and other users have uploaded four images of children holding war shells, claiming that "this is what the United States has brought to the children in Afghanistan."
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar English team has investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. Using Google Image Reverse Search, it turned out that the pictures depict children in Syria collecting war shells in Idlib in northwest Syria.
The photo series was uploaded to The Middle East Images. They were part of a project of the Syrian photographer Ali Haj Suleiman entitled: “The Shells of War.”
Description: The images were taken in a scrapyard in Idlib.
The photographer told Misbar that he took the pictures in March 2021 in a scrapyard in Idlib province, Syria. He added that his photo series was awarded a place of honor in the UNICEF Photo Contest 2021.
According to Suleiman, The Shells of War was the story of Hassan and his son Abdelkarim who work on collecting spent ammunition and shells to sell them to get enough money to survive.
The Middle East Images mentioned that Hassan and his children were displaced from Al Lataminah in 2014 when the area was living in airstrikes and bombing campaigns.
According to Hassan, collecting shells and missiles is a risky task that they mastered. This dangerous activity is a source of life for them.
Suleiman has also told our team that the shells and missiles are being sold for scrap to people who can use them to extract minerals or as vases.
