AL-BAB, Syria

Turkish Red Crescent extended a helping hand to 18-year-old Abdullah Abu al-Homsi, who suffers from a physical and mental disability following an attack by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on the occasion of the International Day for People with Special Needs on Dec. 2, his father Saadeddin Abu al-Homsi, voiced hope that his son could get medical treatment.

Turkish Red Crescent teams in the Operation Euphrates Shield region reached out to the father-son duo.

“We received the news of Abdullah through Anadolu Agency and went to his home,” said Ahmet Yetik, a representative of Turkish Red Crescent.

They also provided the family with food, hygiene kits, clothes and a wheelchair, Yetik said.

"When we saw that he is in a desperate situation, we immediately contacted a hospital and transferred him,” he added.

Salih Abu Muhammed, his doctor at the Bab State Hospital, said he needs special treatment.

“Our patient was previously injured in the head in the war. As a result of the attack, his brain was disturbed,” Muhammed said, adding that he lost the ability to communicate with others.

The Syrian youth was born with a mild intellectual disability and the attack five years ago worsened it.​​​​​​​

The attack also resulted in the death of al-Homsi’s brother and forced his family to flee to Idlib to the city of al-Bab, in the countryside of Aleppo.

Because of the regime assault, al-Homsi lost his ability to walk and speak, and his food consumption became restricted to liquids only. His father said that al-Homsi’s weight had dropped to only 35 kg.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar