A tiny head and arm protrude from a pile of grey rubble, at least three storeys off the ground: a child, almost entirely buried by chunks of concrete.
With that one free hand, she鈥檚 clutching onto her baby sister鈥檚 shirt, desperately trying to stop the infant from falling to her death.
This heart-rending image was taken after an airstrike crippled buildings in northwestern Syria. A closer look reveals that there is a third sister under the rubble, also reaching towards the baby. Above, a man believed to be their uncle scrambles frantically down the slope of the devastated building towards them.
The photo encapsulates the plight of children and families in Syria right now 鈥� a plight the international community seems to have largely forgotten about.
鈥淎irstrikes kill and maim significant numbers of civilians several times a week, and the response seems to be a collective shrug,鈥� said Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Since 2011, Syria鈥檚 civil war has killed more than 370,000 people, and displaced millions more. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, has been carrying out an offensive since late April to take back Idlib, which is considered to contain one of the last rebel strongholds.
In a statement this Friday, the UN pointed out the alarming silence of the international community despite a climbing civilian death toll in Syria.
More Syrian children have been killed in the last four weeks than in all of 2018.
According to Save the Children鈥檚 Middle East coordinator, Joelle Bassoul, at least 33 kids have died since June 24.
Footage taken by Syrian media outlet SY24 shows the frantic moments that follow the photo: the uncle wrestles chunks of concrete off of the girls and they are rushed out of the building in the arms of concerned onlookers and volunteers.
Some reports say the man with the children was their father, but others say the girls were calling for their uncle while they were trapped.
Other children can be seen being carried through the devastated landscape.
鈥淢ost of the children have died either at school or at home,鈥� Bassoul said. 鈥淭hose are not military targets, obviously.鈥�
The UN statement alleges that this is no coincidence.
鈥淭his latest relentless campaign of airstrikes by the government and its allies has continued to hit medical facilities, schools and other civilian infrastructure such as markets and bakeries,鈥� Bachelet said.
鈥淭hese are civilian objects, and it seems highly unlikely, given the persistent pattern of such attacks, that they are all being hit by accident,鈥� she added. 鈥淚ntentional attacks against civilians are war crimes, and those who have ordered them or carried them out are criminally responsible for their actions.鈥�
The UN statement says that in the last ten days alone, airstrikes in Idlib and rural Aleppo have caused a minimum of 103 civilian deaths. Of those deaths, they say at least 26 were children.
Some of the areas hit since July 16, according to the UN, include a bookshop, a supermarket, an Internet café, a mosque, residential buildings, and a street holding a vegetable market, among other locations.
鈥淭his is a failure of leadership by the world鈥檚 most powerful nations, resulting in tragedy on such a vast scale that we no longer seem to be able to relate to it at all,鈥� Bachelet said.
As for the three sisters in the photo, they were taken to hospital once they were freed from the wreckage of the building.
The two older sisters, as well as their mother, have reportedly died.
But the baby they fought so hard to save still clings to life in hospital. Reports say she is currently in critical condition.
