GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton was filming a feature on the daily life of Syrian opposition fighters when a mundane chore for the men turned into a bloodbath.
Shelton camped with the opposition’s Noor Den al-Zenke battalion in their makeshift home on a narrow street in Aleppo. Jokes were being told one morning and laughter was in the air as the men cleaned their post. When an alert came that a Syrian Army tank had been spotted nearby the men dropped their brooms and reached for their weapons.
In an instant, an explosion tore through their ranks. Shelton shot as it happened. Of the men at the post, only one survived the blast.
full photoset:
From left to right: Issa Aiash, 30, father of three, his young brother Ahmed, 17, and Sheihk Mamoud, 42, father of a newborn son, laugh and joke as they clean their post Saturday.
A call comes through that a tank was spotted nearby. The men immediately grab weapons.
Within seconds the tank blast has already hit.
Debris and smoke fill the street around 30 meters back - covering me and the camera in dust.
This man was the only survivor.
He escaped with injuries.
It took several minutes before the dust cleared enough to check for more survivors, but there was nothing we could do.
I believe these are actually stills from a video, but the video has not been released AFAIK
source:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/instant-of-death-on-the-front-lines-with-syrian-opposition-troops/
