baby

The confronting video of a lifeless baby, born in a bombing, being brought back to life.

This post and video contains confronting images.

A video filmed by Channel 4 as part of a documentary series entitled Inside Aleppo, captures the birth of a seemingly lifeless baby after an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria.

His mother, identified only as Mayissa, was in labour and on her way to hospital when the bomb hit.

Making the journey by foot, Mayissa endured a broken arm and leg, as well as serious shrapnel wounds.

More than 40 people were killed in the airstrike, and dozens were injured.

The video captures Mayissa arriving at hospital unconscious with a faint pulse and shrapnel piercing her stomach.

The doctors are concerned that the wounds would have killed the baby.

The hospital itself had been struck and is filmed in a state of total chaos, with blood and equipment sprawled across the floor.

The hospital itself had been struck. Image via Channel 4.
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Despite the conditions, doctors rush  to perform an emergency C-section. But the fight isn't over.

A doctor can be heard asking: "Is his heart beating?"

The response is: "No, no. I'm sorry."

The doctors then attempt to resuscitate the tiny, white, lifeless body.

Then, as they clear his airways, his umbilical cord can be seen twitching, ever so slightly.

Within moments, his body - as white as the hospital tiles - turns to a beautiful, healthy pink. As they lay him down, his expressionless face suddenly contorts into an incredible, loud cry.

His expressionless face suddenly contorts into an incredible, loud cry. Image via Channel 4.
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The doctors cannot hide their joy and the documentary describes the baby's howl as "more powerful, for a brief moment, than Aleppo's daily cry of death".

Aleppo is at the centre of Syria's ongoing military conflict.

The Syrian Centre for Policy Research estimates that the Civil War has so far killed almost half a million Syrians, and Mayissa and her beautiful baby boy could have easily been two more.

There is perhaps no greater reminder that where we are born really is just luck of the draw.

As the documentary so eloquently concluded: "The war almost ended this boy's life before it began."

Although the incredible resuscitation reminds us of the ubiquity of hope, it is also underpinned with concern for his future.

Just last week we were deeply moved by the video of Omran Daqneesh, who's bloodied face came to represent the unimaginable suffering in Aleppo. Mamamia's Holly Wainwright asked: "If this were your little boy, wouldn't you do anything you could to keep him safe?"

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Even though they are distressingly uncomfortable, these are the images we cannot look away from. We have an obligation, a responsibility, to our Syrian brothers and sisters.

This nameless little boy has a life before him as valuable and important as our own children.

We cannot let him become but another statistic.

You can help. You can support organisations like Welcome to Australia and the ASRC. You can donate to CARE Australia's Syria Appeal. You can tell your political representatives that you want live in a compassionate nation that welcomes people who are fleeing violence and persecution.

And you can share stories like these with your friends and help change the minds of people who might believe that this child isn't, in some small way, their responsibility too.

We would also like to thank our friends at Show and Tell for their heartfelt coverage of this story.