Syrian Boy Takes Own Life, Stirs Uproar on Social Media

A Syrian child who committed suicide stirred uproar on social media sites, especially after he left a letter he wrote in which he apologized to his family for taking his own life.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Omar Al-Khatib (15 years old) wrote: “I am sorry my father, but I can no longer bear it .. and this will give me comfort and it will also comfort you and comfort my mother.” The letter was found sticked to a wall beside the place in which he hanged himself in his father's home in city of Homs.

The Syrian Observatory indicated that the family of the child is said to be suffering from tensions  between his father and his mother due to poverty, which placed psychological pressure on him and pushed him to take own life.

The incident sparked a wave of widespread sympathy with the child on social media, and a number of city residents stated that poverty and deprivation were causing persistent and permanent problems within the family in the war torn country.

Many Syrians conveyed this suicide message, indicating the depth of the living and economic crisis also after years of war, displacement, destruction and killing of civilians.