crown

Subscribe Now

FOLLOW US

Sign in

Photos: In eastern Syria, the infants of a dying Islamic State caliphate

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters battled a fierce jihadist fightback on February 11, as they pushed to retake a last morsel of territory from the Islamic State group. More than four years after the extremists declared a "caliphate" across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, several offensives have whittled that proto-state down to a tiny holdout. Among the civilians pouring out of Baghouz were also the children and infants of now dead or captured Islamic State fighters and mothers who’ve been left haggard and stateless.

Updated on: Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM IST

Share via

Copy link

1/9

Women and children displaced from Deir Ezzor sit in the back of a truck after they fled the Islamic State (IS) holdout near Baghouz, eastern Syria. Among the fleeing were those born in a “state” that no longer exists, most to fathers who are dead and mothers whose countries don’t want them back. These are the children pouring out of Baghouz. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

Women and children displaced from Deir Ezzor sit in the back of a truck after they fled the Islamic State (IS) holdout near Baghouz, eastern Syria. Among the fleeing were those born in a “state” that no longer exists, most to fathers who are dead and mothers whose countries don’t want them back. These are the children pouring out of Baghouz. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

2/9

Women and children displaced from Deir Ezzor sit in the back of a truck. Their grimy faces are the only ones visible in the sea of black veils worn by their mothers, packed in the back of a dozen pickup trucks spiriting them away from the Islamic State group’s last holdout in eastern Syria. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

Women and children displaced from Deir Ezzor sit in the back of a truck. Their grimy faces are the only ones visible in the sea of black veils worn by their mothers, packed in the back of a dozen pickup trucks spiriting them away from the Islamic State group’s last holdout in eastern Syria. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

3/9

There are infants as young as three months old, their ceaseless, hungry wails syncing into a single howl. The older toddlers stare in silence at the gathered journalists. They seem to be dressed in everything they could pile on: tiny knit sweaters and hats, puffer jackets, blankets. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

There are infants as young as three months old, their ceaseless, hungry wails syncing into a single howl. The older toddlers stare in silence at the gathered journalists. They seem to be dressed in everything they could pile on: tiny knit sweaters and hats, puffer jackets, blankets. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

4/9

It is hard to tell how thin or young their mothers are under their all-encompassing black robes, but their eyes are gaunt and sunken, their bone-thin hands blackened with dirt. Food and safe drinking water have been scarce for weeks as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces closed in on the last IS enclave near the flat, desolate village of Baghouz. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

It is hard to tell how thin or young their mothers are under their all-encompassing black robes, but their eyes are gaunt and sunken, their bone-thin hands blackened with dirt. Food and safe drinking water have been scarce for weeks as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces closed in on the last IS enclave near the flat, desolate village of Baghouz. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

5/9

Khadija is one year old, born under IS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. She was swaddled in a thick blanket by her mother, a 17-year-old Syrian girl from 500 kilometres away in the northern city of Manbij. Her father, just as young, has been rounded up by the SDF and placed into another truck with dozens of men. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

Khadija is one year old, born under IS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. She was swaddled in a thick blanket by her mother, a 17-year-old Syrian girl from 500 kilometres away in the northern city of Manbij. Her father, just as young, has been rounded up by the SDF and placed into another truck with dozens of men. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

6/9

There are other nationalities too -- Iraqi, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and French. An uncertain future awaits in displaced persons’ camps run by the Kurdish administration of northern Syria, where thousands of others like them are already held. To get there, they cross hundreds of kilometres of desert plain in the open-back trucks, exposed to the rain and other elements. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

There are other nationalities too -- Iraqi, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and French. An uncertain future awaits in displaced persons’ camps run by the Kurdish administration of northern Syria, where thousands of others like them are already held. To get there, they cross hundreds of kilometres of desert plain in the open-back trucks, exposed to the rain and other elements. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

7/9

On either side of the desolate route lie the tattered belongings of those with little else: a torn suitcase, a ripped grey sweater, a navy blue stroller turned on its side. At least 35 children have died on the route or just after arrival, according to the United Nations, most of hypothermia. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

On either side of the desolate route lie the tattered belongings of those with little else: a torn suitcase, a ripped grey sweater, a navy blue stroller turned on its side. At least 35 children have died on the route or just after arrival, according to the United Nations, most of hypothermia. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

8/9

A Syrian woman holding a child talks to a medic at a makeshift clinic at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate. In the Al-Hol reception centre, women and children - most of them under five - sit on piles of blankets, waiting for a tent to become available. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

A Syrian woman holding a child talks to a medic at a makeshift clinic at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate. In the Al-Hol reception centre, women and children - most of them under five - sit on piles of blankets, waiting for a tent to become available. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

9/9

In the nearby health clinic, veiled women lay their haggard toddlers on a table for a doctor with worn-out eyes to examine. A 19-year-old with an infant on her hip emerged from the women’s clinic. “I just found out I’m pregnant.” (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2019 11:59 AM

In the nearby health clinic, veiled women lay their haggard toddlers on a table for a doctor with worn-out eyes to examine. A 19-year-old with an infant on her hip emerged from the women’s clinic. “I just found out I’m pregnant.” (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Related Photos

Home/Photos/News/Photos: In Eastern Syria, The Infants Of A Dying Islamic State Caliphate

© 2026 HindustanTimes