AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A Syrian man carries the body of a child following a reported military strike by government forces in the rebel-controlled Bustan al-Qasr district of the northern city of Aleppo on June 20, 2015.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian rescue workers look up to the sky in search of warplanes, on June 14, 2015, in the Jallum neighbourhood in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, following a reported barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces. Regime barrel bombs -- crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives -- have often struck schools, hospitals, and markets in Syria, despite condemnation by rights groups.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A man stands on a pick-up truck loaded with the belongings of a family moving from one district to a safer one on June 8, 2015 in the rebel-held side of Syria's northern city of Aleppo. A couple and their five children were killed overnight in Aleppo province in strikes by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, a monitor said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian men help an injured person after a reported barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces hit an open market in the northern city of Aleppo, on June 3, 2015, killing and injuring people. Regime barrel bombs -- crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives -- have often struck schools, hospitals, and markets in Syria.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian children play on a swing as they gather to celebrate the first day of Eid al-Fitr, that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan in the city of Aleppo on July 28, 2014. Six children were among at least 15 civilians killed in overnight bomb attacks by government and rebel forces in the divided city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian demonstrators rally in support of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) calling for them to unite behind a unified command system in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 11, 2014. Syria's government has responded with "constructive interest" to a UN proposal to suspend fighting in the second city of Aleppo, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A man holds his phone in an attempt to get a better phone signal in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 26, 2014. According to Fabrice Balanche, a French university lecturer and specialist on Syria, only around one million residents remain out of Aleppo's pre-war population of 2.5 million.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Rebel fighters fire a machine gun on the frontline during the battle against pro-government forces for control of the Handarat region, located just north of Aleppo, on December 18, 2014. Handarat has been divided since a rebel offensive in summer 2012 between loyalist sectors in the west of the city and insurgent-held territory in the east.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Men ride a motorcycle through a hole in a wall as they escape sniper fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 30, 2015. The ancient city of Aleppo has been fought over mercilessly since a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A young boy walks past a makeshift barricade made of wreckages of buses to obstruct the view of regime snipers and to keep people safe, on March 14, 2015 in the rebel-held side of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Syria's conflict enters its fifth year on March 15, 2015 with the regime emboldened by shifting international attention and a growing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the rise of the Islamic State group.

Karam al-Masri’s story is both familiar in war torn Aleppo and extraordinary. A second-year law student in 2011, he has emerged as one of the most widely distributed and acclaimed news photographers covering the destruction of the city. His is a common story of the Syrian revolution where many young people had to leave their educations and professions to take part in some way in the uprising. But Karam’s efforts to document the death of Aleppo has brought him to international attention as a photographer for Agence France-Presse.

“I left university and joined the revolution.” He first started documenting protests and fighting a basic non-professional camera in 2011. Facebook was his main platform until, in 2013, he started working with AFP, photographing the rebel-held east of Aleppo. Since then

Karam explains that “photographers receive ‘special treatment’ when captured by the regime. The regime immediately tries to kill us because it fears cameras more than weapons.” In rebel-held areas where there is no government presence. “Photographers can do their job freely under the Free Syrian Army” Karim said. But there is another force that comes after them—the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

ISIS had a significant presence in rebel-held Aleppo from late 2013 until February 2014 when the rebels kicked them out. Karam had his own share of suffering. “I was kidnapped by ISIS in late 2013, tortured and kept alone in a 2×1 m² dark cell for six months. Later I was released in an amnesty.” He explains that, “for ISIS, anyone who uses a camera becomes a traitor. They convicted me of treason for working as a foreign press agency photographer.”

Karam’s main themes of photography are the destruction of Aleppo, daily life and the suffering of those who have stayed behind. “Aleppo is heavily destroyed. There are only four or five neighborhoods where most people can still live. The old city is severely damaged.” Al-Masri participated in shooting a documentary with Aljazeera called “The Death of Aleppo” that tracks the destruction of the city and the impact on the lives of its residents.

Around 350,000 still survive in the east of Aleppo. However, as Karam says, many Aleppians left “because of the hard living conditions including the shortage of basic provisions and daily barrel bombs.” He is determined to stay because, as he says, “this is my city. I was born here, I grew up here and will live here inshallah.”

“I want to continue my education in law when the war is over. Of course, I will continue photographing because now I am best friends with my camera; I take it wherever I go. But [when the war is over] then my pictures will be about beautiful nature and not barrel bombs.”

Hassan Mroue, AFP Middle East and North Africa Photo Manager

“Thanks to photographers like Karam al-Masri, the foreign media has been able to obtain images from rebel-held areas in Syria where foreign journalists stopped going following many incidents kidnapping or killing after mid-2013. Karam’s pictures captured the daily life in Aleppo, people’s suffering and breaking news when government forces bombed neighbourhoods held by opposition fighters in the city.

He was detained by the Islamic State group (IS) in late 2013 and was imprisoned for six months because he was using a camera, which they considered a “tool of infidelity”.

One of his pictures of a child crying after shelling was featured recently in the French publication l’Obs with background information about the photographer and the circumstances in which he took the photo of the Syrian boy with his face covered in dust and traces of his tears following an air strike on the rebel-held Bustan al-Qasr district in the east of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 20, 2015.”

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