In Pictures

Healing on the Syria-Turkey border

In special postoperative centres set up in Turkish border towns, Syrian fighters dream of returning to battle.

A rebel fighter waits for a medical checkup in a field hospital on the Syria-Turkey border. The 18-year-old says he decided to fight because he could no longer stand the abuses of the Syrian regime. He was injured when a landmine exploded, but says he intends to return to battle, even as his wife is pregnant in Turkey. 'I will be a martyr, inshallah,' he professes. [Al Jazeera]

2 Jan 2016

As the number of dead continues to rise in Syria, other people are struggling to cope with devastating injuries that will stay with them forever, such as the loss of limbs or impaired mobility.

Yet throughout Syria, it has becoming increasingly difficult for victims to access life-saving care. Government hospitals are inaccessible or carry the risk of detention, while medical facilities in opposition-controlled areas are regularly targeted by air strikes. Smaller field hospitals, meanwhile, do not have sufficient equipment.

Urgent cases are granted entry across the border into Turkey. In a series of transfers at designated points along the border, Syrian and Turkish medical teams coordinate ambulances to shuttle the wounded to Turkish state hospitals.

From there, Syrians who require longer-term treatment are turned over to postoperative recovery centers in Turkish border towns, including Reyhanli, Sanliurfa and Kilis. Known as “houses of healing”, they are operated by Syrians with support from international NGOs.

Bed-ridden, in wheelchairs or on crutches, the men here recount battles against regime forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, describing the circumstances of their life-changing injuries with a sense of pride.

Though grateful for the chance to physically recover in these safe spaces, their thoughts remain riveted on Syria, and on one day returning to the fight.

A man injured by barrel bombs in Aleppo is helped into a Turkish ambulance on call at a Syrian field hospital near the border. For emergency cases, the field hospital is a first point of transfer between Syria and Turkey. [Al Jazeera]

A Syrian doctor dresses the wound of an opposition fighter who says he was injured by a regime sniper. [Al Jazeera]

A Turkish ambulance transports a Syrian patient injured by barrel bombs in Aleppo to a state hospital across the border. During periods of escalated hostilities in opposition-held areas of northern Syria, Turkish and Syrian medical teams coordinate the transfer of the wounded across the border several times a day. [Al Jazeera]

Free Syrian Army members rest in one of the largest rehabilitation centers in Reyhanli, where they are able to stay for months as they work towards regaining their mobility. Despite the much-needed opportunity to physically recover in safer territory, the long wait takes a toll on many of the young men, who say they feel unproductive in Turkey and are eager to return to Syria. [Al Jazeera]

This 26-year-old man, who ran a bus-tour company in eastern Syria, was paralysed from the waist down after ISIL invaded Deir Ezzor. He is now recovering with his son in the Turkish border town of Sanliurfa. [Al Jazeera]

An 18-year-old opposition fighter displays his injured leg at a recovery home in Reyhanli. Deployed as a kalashnikov operator in his battalion, he was struck by shelling from a Syrian government tank in Homs. As he learns to walk again in Turkey, he reminisces about his time as a fighter: 'We formed a close-knit group, always at arms, always ready to fight. I was defending my country and would do it again and again.' [Al Jazeera]

Residents of a recovery house in Reyhanli pray together. New patients arrive frequently due to the proximity to a main border crossing, and the centre accommodates as many men as possible in bunk beds. [Al Jazeera]

Long-term residents from a rehabilitation centre in Reyhanli walk down the road towards the town centre. This has become a common sight in the Turkish border town, a constant reminder of war raging a few kilometres away. [Al Jazeera]

A 21-year-old injured by an air strike in eastern Ghouta gets an artificial leg fitted in a prosthetic limb clinic. The process of fitting a new limb can be lengthy, with months of adjustment, but it remains a vital option for regaining mobility. [Al Jazeera]

A former Free Syrian Army fighter from Hama gets a prosthetic arm fitted in Reyhanli. [Al Jazeera]

Every month, dozens of Syrian amputees - both fighters and civilians alike - can be fitted with upper and lower limbs in this clinic in Reyhanli. The limbs are manufactured locally in Turkey, and although they cost hundreds of dollars, the clinic provides them free of charge to the amputees. [Al Jazeera]

Syrians in Reyhanli healing from war injuries attend the inauguration party of a Syrian-run centre dedicated to helping disabled people. The centre will bring injured Syrians together to socialise and attend vocational skills training, in hopes of deterring them from returning to the frontlines in Syria. [Al Jazeera]

A mother kisses her bed-ridden son in Sanliurfa as he lays in bed, his eyes fixed on the TV, which is tuned to footage from the ongoing battles in Syria. The 30-year-old Deir Ezzor native was paralysed by sniper fire while fighting with the Free Syrian Army against government forces. Two years since his injury, he remains psychologically fragile, and he is convinced he will be able to move again and return to the fight in Syria. [Al Jazeera]