A Kurdish child screamed to his dad to “stop the burning” at a hospital as the 13-year-old boy writhed in pain after his skin was melted by white phosphorus allegedly used by Turkish forces, according to reports.
Medical staffers at the Syrian-Kurdish hospital were reduced to tears at the sight of Mohammed Hamid Mohammed’s horrific injuries, which suggested that Turkey is using chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians, the Times of London reported.
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” Mohammed yelled at his father as he gasped for air, according to a Times reporter who witnessed his suffering. “Stop the burning! I beg you, stop the burning!”
It took a nurse about 20 minutes to finally manage to inject morphine into the child’s disfigured body, offering him a measure of temporary relief.
“This very much looks like it was caused by white phosphorus,” Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British chemical weapons expert, told the news outlet when shown images of the child’s burns.
“In 24 hours I have been shown more photographs of these kinds of burn than at any recent stage in Syria’s war,” he said. “White phosphorus is a horrific weapon, which can be delivered by aircraft or artillery. It reacts to the moisture in the skin in a way that intensifies its burning, so that water cannot put it out.”
The brutal scene unfolded amid claims by embattled Kurdish officials in northeastern Syria that Turkey has resorted to using banned weapons such as white phosphorus and napalm — a charge Ankara has denied, according to Agence France-Presse.
UN chemical weapons inspectors announced that they are gathering information about allegations that Turkish forces were using the substances against children, the UK’s Guardian reported.
On Friday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said “it was aware of the situation and is collecting information with regard to possible use of chemical weapons.”
The Kurdish Red Crescent said six patients — both military and civilian — were hospitalized in Hasakah with burns from “unknown weapons” and that it was seeking to determine what had been used.
It said it was “working together with our international partners to investigate this subject.”
Turkey rejected the accusations about chemical weapons.
“It is a fact known by everyone that there are no chemical weapons in the inventory of the Turkish armed forces,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, according to the Guardian.
White phosphorus is used legally in combat as a smokescreen during the day and as an incendiary to light up an area at night — but it is illegal to use it against civilians because it causes serious and excruciating burns on contact with skin.
Kurdish officials accused Turkey of using “unconventional weapons” a few hours before the five-day, US-brokered cease-fire was announced by Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara, where he met Thursday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Friday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Turkey continued its military operation in Ras al-Ayn despite the cease-fire. Erdogan described the claim as “speculation, disinformation.”
Mohammed’s father said the boy suffered the widespread burns after a Turkish airstrike in Ras al-Ayn at midnight Wednesday.
“I heard the Turkish jet overhead just before the explosion,” Hamid Mohammed, 35, a laborer, told the London Times as he stood beside his boy, who had endured 12 hours of agony before arriving at the hospital.
“There was a Turkish bombardment already going on, then came one massive explosion outside our house. In the confusion of the blast, I found the rest of my children but not Mohammed. The street seemed to be on fire. I saw other bodies lying there aflame. Then I saw my son. He was also on fire.”
Doctors said the boy suffered devastating burns on more than 70 percent of his body — and that he is unlikely to survive without specialized treatment.
“We just don’t have the facilities to treat a child with that level of burning,” Ibrahim Ali, an assistant surgeon, told the paper. “Unless he can be evacuated to a hospital in Damascus, or elsewhere abroad, his chances of survival are slim.”
There were no vehicles to take the boy away for more advanced treatment, so as the sound of gunfire reverberated throughout Tal Tamir, his father hoped the semiconscious boy would survive until dawn.
“If he is still alive in the morning,” he told the Times, “then I will take him away from here in my own car and find somewhere else to treat him.”
Staff at the hospital in Tal Tamir said every medical facility in Ras al-Ayn about 20 miles away has been destroyed by Turkish shelling and that many wounded civilians are dying.
“Human rights organizations should be here to see what is happening and investigate the weapons being used on civilians,” said hospital chief Hassan Amin.
“Just 2 percent of those we treat have been shot. The rest are injured by airstrikes or artillery. Some burns patients are so badly injured as to be barely recognizable. But there are no international aid organizations to witness this. They gave us their promises — then left us.”
The 30-bed facility had received more than 550 wounded civilians, most from Ras al-Ayn, since the Turkish offensive began last week. More than 165,000 people, including 70,000 children, have been displaced.