The scorched sisters who shame Syria: Terrible ordeal of little girls whose home was shelled by Assad's soldiers

Waleed Qadora's heart breaks as he watches his two young daughters playing.
Eight months ago he rescued them from the family's burning home in the battle-scarred Syrian city of Homs after it was hit by shells fired between government forces and rebel fighters.
Terrified of further attack, the entire family then risked their lives fleeing to neighbouring Jordan.

Scars: Waleed Qadora's four-year-old daughter was badly scarred when the family's home in the Syrian city of Homs was shelled

The girls, Qamar, four and Rahaf, three, survived the attack but were badly scarred and are now too embarrassed of their injuries to venture outside.
Recalling the night their neighborhood was targetted by warring regime forces and Syrian rebels, Mr Qudora tells CNN: 'The children were on fire. I was running to get them and my arm caught fire.

 

'I ran through the fire two or three times with out feeling a thing.

'The only thing on my mind was that my children were inside. I could hear their voices. Hear them crying.'
His wife, who was pregnant at the time, escaped unharmed along well as the couple's six year old son Abdul Malek.

Trauma: She's so self-conscious about her injuries, the girl is now too scared to venture outside

Escape: Waleed was burned rescuing his daughters, before fleeing with the entire family to Jordan

The girls were initially treated at a government hospital in Homs, but fearing a raid by Syrian regime forces, Mr Qadora took the family and fled for the border with Jordan.
After a perilous five day journey, they arrived in the capital Amman, where they have lived since - now a family of six - in a single high-rise hotel room.
Mr Qadora has been fortunate enough to enlist his daughters in a surgical programme run by the aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Psychological scars: Rahaf is just three, but is still aware of scars on her face, telling her father: 'I am not pretty, I am burned.'

Rahaf cries out in pain: The girls are being treated by Doctors Without Borders in Jordan, but will have to wait many years before they can have cosmetic surgery on their facial scars

They are among 200 Syrians who are being treated on the scheme, and have undergone multiple surgeries.
But because they will have to wait for several years before they are old enough to undergo cosmetic surgery to treat the scars on their faces.
And their father fears they psychological scars will be the hardest to heal.He said: '(Rahaf) used to always tell me, 'I am cute, I am pretty. now she tells me, I am not pretty, I am burned.'"

Amman-based plastic surgeon, Dr Nasr Omar explained: 'Whenever they have this ugly disfigured face i think they try to isolate themselves and try not to communicate with other in the normal way.

Both sides accused of war crimes as Syria air strike kills 80

Syrian government forces and the country’s rebels are both guilty of war crimes, United Nations investigators ruled yesterday.
The dual condemnation came as an airstrike killed up to 80 people in the northern border town of Azaz.
Earlier, a bomb exploded in central Damascus near a hotel where UN observers, including Baroness Amos, were staying. None of the delegation were hurt.
The conflict appeared in danger of escalating beyond Syrian borders last night, as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia ordered their citizens to leave Lebanon ‘immediately’ for fear of kidnappings.

Ongoing: Syrians examine the damaged caused by an airstrike on the town of Azaaz, near the northern restive Syrian city of Aleppo, on August 15

Children: A Syrian man carries an injured child to a field hospital in Azaz as the Syrian Civil War rages on

The warnings came as gunmen belonging to a Lebanese Shi’ite clan seized more than 20 prisoners in retaliation for the capture of one of their compatriots in Damascus.
The UN’s 102-page report blamed troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad for murder and torture in what appeared to be state-directed policy. Government forces were also accused of sex attacks, arbitrary arrests and detention, pillaging and destruction of property.
Syrian rebels have also committed war crimes, but these ‘did not reach the gravity, frequency and scale’ of those carried out by the army and security forces, investigators said. They added that both sides have violated the rights of children during the 17-month conflict.
‘We have identified both parties as guilty of war crimes, and of course a greater number and bigger variety from the government side,’ American senior investigator Karen AbuZayd said.
Completing their inquiry into a massacre in Houla, north of Homs, in late May, the investigators said government forces and militia fighters were responsible for the killings of more than 100 civilians, nearly half of whom were children.
Yesterday, the violence showed no sign of abating.
After the bombardment in Azaz, a video published by activists on YouTube showed screaming residents carrying bloodied bodies away from collapsed buildings.
Syrian forces have increasingly used helicopter gunships and fighter jets against the rebels – weaponry that the lightly-armed opposition fighters cannot match.
At least three people were hurt after explosives attached to a diesel tanker blew up in Damascus.
Baroness Amos wrote on Twitter that she was unable to access the suburb of Douma, and could hear the sounds of shelling. ‘I was here in March and the situation has clearly got worse,’ she said.

Damage: A Syrian Air Force strike has left buildings in Azaz reduced to rubble