Syria: A father says last goodbye to child

This frame grab from video provided on Wednesday Feb. 21, 2018 by the Syrian anti-government activist group Ghouta Media Center, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man, right, hugging and saying his last goodbye to his dead child who was killed during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces, as he walks to bury him in a mass grave, in Ghouta, suburb of Damascus, Syria. PHOTO/Ghouta Media Center via AP

BEIRUT — A father saying his last goodbye to his dead child, before the shelling starts again.

It’s a grief shared by all too many parents trapped with their children under a brutal, government siege of the eastern Ghouta region outside the Syrian capital of Damascus. The government, backed by Russia, is determined to bring the once rebellious region back under its authority.

In one poignant video shared by residents inside, a father who isn’t identified picks up the shrouded body of a child from the back of a truck and holds him close to his chest. Someone off camera tells others nearby to let the man say goodbye to his son. The man rocks the child’s body in his arms and turns away from the camera.