Childhood Lost: Haunting Photos Of 10-Year-Old Boy Working In A Syrian Weapons Factory

Paul Szoldra * Business Insider

In the two-year-old Syrian civil war, it’s easy to lose sight of how ordinary civilians are suffering amid the heated debate on both sides of a possible U.S. intervention in the conflict.

No matter what the international community does or doesn’t do, the lives of many Syrians will likely be affected for a long time to come. More than 110,000 people have lost their lives since March 2011, and millions have been internally displaced or fled to overcrowded refugee camps.

For those who remain in the country, however, their lives have shifted from normalcy to survival. In a package released Sunday by Reuters, photos are able to express this change much better than words can.

Issa, a 10-year-old boy living in Aleppo, is shown working with his father to fix weapons systems for the Free Syrian Army in a factory for 10 hours a day. His education has been replaced with on-the-job training, and it seems that his childhood is being lost with each day.