No, this Syrian girl isn't part of a staged scene or a survivor of several attacks

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A picture of a shell-shocked Syrian girl being carried by three different rescuers has been widely shared on social networks since 2016. Some accuse the media of staging the scenes while others say the girl miraculously survived three separate attacks. Both these statements are false: the three pictures were taken by a freelancer for AFP after a single attack in Aleppo.

A Facebook user posted the photomontage on April 8 with the following text: "Putin and Assad keep using chemical weapons against the same girl, but she's still alive", receiving more than 6,000 shares.

A photomontage of the Facebook page of "Danico Kalombo" published on April 8 (Facebook / AFP)

Another page posted the same picture the following day along with the following text: "The same little one in three chemical attacks. Oh propaganda." It was shared more than 400 times.

Both claims are false.

The three pictures were taken on the same day, August 27, 2016, in the Maadi district of eastern Aleppo. They were taken by Ameer al-Halabi, who was working as a freelance photographer for AFP in Syria at the time and is now in France.

After an airstrike by the Syrian regime left at least 15 dead, Ameer al-Halabi took 16 pictures that were distributed by AFP.

Screenshot of AFPForum, an AFP platform showing the pictures (AFP)

On four of the pictures (taken in less than 80 seconds according the metadata), the same girl can be identified passing through the arms of three different men during the rescue operation: a volunteer rescue worker from the Syrian White Helmets humanitarian organisation, a man in a checked shirt and a rescue worker in yellow.

The photomontage has been circulating since 2016, mainly shared by publications and individuals seeking to discredit the White Helmets by claiming they were staging rescue operations.

Another version that has been widely shared accuses CNN of staging the girl's rescue.

The misinformation was already debunked by Liberation in France in 2016 and Snopes in the United States. Both publications underlined that a photojournalist from Reuters news agency was also at the scene and took other pictures of the same girl.

A Syrian girl rescued in the Maadi district, in eastern Aleppo, August 27 2016, after an airstrike by the Syrian regime (Ameer al-Halabi / AFP)
A Syrian girl rescued in the Maadi district, in eastern Aleppo, August 27 2016, after an airstrike by the Syrian regime (Ameer al-Halabi / AFP)
A Syrian girl rescued in the Maadi district, in eastern Aleppo, August 27 2016, after an airstrike by the Syrian regime (Ameer al-Halabi / AFP)
A Syrian girl rescued in the Maadi district of eastern Aleppo on August 27 2016, after an airstrike by the Syrian regime (Ameer al-Halabi / AFP)

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