Pipe Smoking Syrian goes viral

aleppo - A man with his pipe, listening to his record in a devastated room. This image from Aleppo is massively shared on social media.

In the photo, taken by AFP photographer Jospeh Eid, state Mohiedin Muhammad Anis (70), aka Abu Omar. He is a collector of classic cars, but the war now going on for six years had a devastating effect on his collection.

The photo is massively shared on social media.\n    \n   \n     Photo: AFP

Beginning in 2016, when AFP Anis interviewed for the first time, he had 30 vintage cars to his name. A year later, after also part of Aleppo where he lives was part of the fierce battle, a third of the cars stolen or destroyed.

When Eid Abu Omar visited again in early March, he led him around by his wrecked house. In one of the rooms they saw the old record. 'He told us that he still uses. And many also because it is mechanical and does not need electricity, 'says the photographer against Time. 'He proposed to spin some records, but he said he could not listen without stabbing a pipe to music. '

And so the journalists waited while the man lit his pipe, set up a plate and sat down at his broken bed in his room ravaged to enjoy his music, an old Arabic song Syrian singer Mohamed Dia al-Din.

'He is tremendously attached to his past and the things he always cherished and loved. If he loses, he is afraid that he will lose his identity, 'says Eid. 'That's why he is there to stay here to look back his life. '

The photographer will never forget the scene, he said. 'If I'm ever desperate or like trouble to me to be too much, thanks I think back to the image of Abu Omar, sucking on his pipe with debris-covered bed listening to his favorite music. '

When asked why he thinks the picture is so massively shared Eid says: 'Because people are ready by force. 'There are people insensitive to become, according to him. 'This image affects people in their souls. '