Four-year-old Syrian girl mistakes camera for gun and 'surrenders' in heartbreaking photo

A Turkish photographer traveling through Syria capturing the horrors throughout the war-torn country experienced something even more heartbreaking when he came across a four-year-old girl.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - As Osman Sagirli held up his camera to take Adi Hudea's picture, she froze in terror and held her hands in the air, surrendering. Adi believed the camera was a weapon ready to end her life.

Like many other Syrian children, Adi's family has been forced to leave their home. Adi's father was killed in the 2012 Hama massacre. She has since lived at the Atmen refugee camp on the Syria-Turkey border with her devastated mother and three siblings.

The five-year-old Syrian civil war has taken more than 220,000 lives, with an estimated 10,000 being children. More than 12 million people have been displaced as a result, with an estimated five million being children.

These children are growing up in war, they see bombings and violent attacks daily.

The startling image of Adi is making its waves through social media and will hopefully open eyes to the terrifying reality Syrians are forced to face every day.

A Palestine-based photojournalist, Nadia Abu Shaban shared the image on Twitter stating "Thought he has a weapon not a camera, so she gave up!"

Her tweet as been re-posted more than 14,000 times and has garnered an emotional following. Others are tweeting, "I'm actually weeping seeing this. We've made this planet a horrible place, haven't we?" and "We are failing the younger generations and those still to come SHAME ON US."

Adi's image appears simultaneously with the Syrian governments announcement of plans to import 150,000 tonnes of wheat to its starving population, according to Daily Mail.

Join Pope Francis' mission - Help feed the hungry today!

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ensures there is enough grain for all.

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