一年前受伤的叙利亚男孩看起来很好很安全

The photo of Omran Daqneesh, a Syrian boy looking bloodied and stunned, flashed across media outlets last August, prompting global outrage. 

Ten months later and Omran is back in the limelight, appearing healthy and well as his family accepted interviews in Aleppo, which is now a government-controlled area.  

Omran was rescued from the rubble in the aftermath of a bombing in the then rebel-held Qaterji district of Aleppo in August 2016.

A video of him sitting in an ambulance chair was released by the White Helmets, a controversial Syrian Civil Defense group. The video soon gained sympathy across the world, as it highlighted the suffering of civilians in besieged east Aleppo. 

In the video, looking lost, the boy wipes his dusty forehead, before realizing his hand is covered in blood.

Omran now lives with his family in Aleppo in a newly released video footage, and is safe and well with pudgy cheeks and a clean face. “My name is Omran Daqneesh, I am four years old,” he told Russia's Ruptly.  

Omran's elder brother, 10-year-old Ali, died in the same strike. The family changed the name of the boy and cut his hair in an effort to shield him from the media and individuals who threatened to kidnap him. 

White Helmets "exploited" his son

In one of the interviews with a Russian media outlet, the boy's father, Mohammad Daqneesh, accused the White Helmets, saying that it filmed and exploited Omran purely "for the sake of propaganda."

Mohammad recalled that when the strike occurred, he and Omran were spending time having fun at home.

Mohammad said that while he was busy saving his family, the "insurgents" were filming his son, "the insurgents seized the opportunity and filmed my family when they were getting out the house.”  

“They took Omran in order to provide him with first aid, but before they attended to him they sat him down to photograph him. Why this photograph? Because this photograph is to exploit him, as if he was targeted, his injury was grave,” Mohammed said.

The Syrian Civil Defense, known commonly as the White Helmets, was established in 2013, and has a charter that says, "to carry out search-and-rescue operations to save the maximum number of lives." However, supporters of the Syrian government have accused its ties to Western governments, from which the group receives millions of US dollars in funding.