Award-Winning Photo of Syrian Father and Son Becomes a Symbol of War’s Human Cost

Mustafa al-Nazzal was born without arms or legs, a condition that profoundly changed the life of his father, Munzir al-Nazzal, a Syrian refugee who had already lost a leg in a bombing during the Syrian civil war. Their story reached the world through a single photograph.

Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan took the image of Munzir playing with his son, lifting the smiling boy into the air while leaning on a crutch. Titled Hardship of Life, the picture showed a tender moment between two people whose bodies had been marked by the conflict. It later won Photo of the Year at the 2021 Siena International Photo Awards and spread globally.

Munzir lost his right leg when a bomb struck a market in Idlib. His wife, Zeynep, was exposed to sarin nerve gas during an attack on Khan Shaykhun while pregnant. Medication she received afterward has been linked to Mustafa’s rare congenital condition, tetra-amelia syndrome.

Like many civilian families, they fled Syria and sought safety in Turkey. The photograph came to stand for the war’s toll on ordinary people: a father who had lost a limb still finding joy with a child born without any.

The image’s impact went beyond awareness. After it went viral and won the Siena prize, Italian organizations, the Diocese of Siena and festival organizers helped relocate the family. In January 2022, Munzir, Mustafa, Zeynep and their two daughters arrived in Italy, where they were offered medical care, including plans for prosthetic treatment.

The picture remains a widely recognized emblem of resilience amid the hardship of displacement.

Source: Mehmet Aslan’s photograph Hardship of Life (Siena International Photo Awards 2021); reporting by The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The New York Times on Munzir and Mustafa al-Nazzal.