Mona Lisa Mosul .. Icon of the children of wars

Landmarks of Al-Obaidi-Baghdad

"Monalisa Mosul" resists the tears with her smile, so many described the picture taken by the lens of photographer Ali al-Fahdawi, showing a displaced girl from this city in northern Iraq mixed with tears light smile.

Saba Faisal became the icon of war children after her image spread on many social media sites during battles between Iraqi forces and ISIS in 2017.

"The photographer is bolder and the bravest of the fighter, because the fighter has options that can protect himself during the battle, and can resume fighting, while the photographer is the master of the situation with him, and parts of the second is very precious to him," thus talking military photographer Ali Fahdawi about his duties and his career to the island Net .

Al-Fahdawi continued that he was usually accompanied by the Iraqi army intelligence team, as well as the reconnaissance team, because they are often at the forefront of the security forces.When the bombing started, the families started fleeing the residential neighborhoods, preparing for the camera to take the hardest scenes on the faces of these displaced families.

"I was attracted by a girl with hair, barefoot and mud over her clothes. My feet quickly led me to stand in front of her and take the picture. She smiled at me crying."

When I saw her I cried
Al-Fahdawi says that many questioned the photographer who took the picture, which led him to search for the child Saba again, in order to revive this story again, and to shed light on her life again and how it became after the war, and where it settled.

He pointed out that the search process was not easy, the tools on which he relied on are simple, namely the history of the image in the camera and his memory of the place that can not be forgotten, as he put it.

"I left for Mosul, where the families accompanying the Sheba family were displaced at the time, and I wandered between the camps to find a picture of the Monalisa of Mosul in the IDP register, but to no avail. I reached out to my fellow journalists and activists in Nineveh province so that they might find the child there until I arrived." I announced a prize for those who show me the girl. "

Three months later, she found a photo that had been posted on an Iraqi Facebook page combining her image with that of the ferry that sank in Mosul, killing hundreds of people in the city.

Al-Jazeera Net added, "I reached out to the owner of the page, and the fates wanted to be the owner of the page is the child's uncle Saba, so I was very happy and took the address and set off to travel to Badoush area near Mosul, where the girl's family lives.

Scared and happy
Saba tells Al Jazeera Net the moment she escaped from Mosul, saying, "She was afraid of shelling and crying, but she was happy when she saw the Iraqi security forces and then learned that they got rid of the elements of the organization and managed to escape from them."

She adds that one of the photographers approached her on the days of displacement and took a picture, but did not know that the picture is now widespread and famous on social networking sites.

"I saw her for the first time when we were in al-Khazir camp. The picture was on an aid vehicle for the displaced. I was surprised and remembered the photographer who took the picture," she said.

According to Sheba, the situation of the people of Mosul after three years did not differ much, things are still very complicated and difficult, stressing that her father has lost hearing in one of his ears because of the shelling, and despite their return to their city, they are still afraid of falling the roof of their dilapidated house because of the bombing of their house During the war, she said.

An acquittal certificate
Sheba's image has gained wide attention from activists and media, and has contributed to highlighting the suffering of the displaced, especially children who are the most prominent victims of war.

The activist and the media Saqr Al Zakaria to Al Jazeera Net that they as Mosulis were in need of that image at the time to stand in the face of waves of treason against the people of the city, who were accused by some of embracing the elements of the organization, this image came as a visual witness to the invalidity of these charges.

Compared to other cases, says the Zakaria - the image of Saba recalled the image of the Kurdish child Ilan, who was found dead drowned on a coast of Turkey during the wave of migration to Europe.

He adds that the child Saba did not get the attention of either the government or civil society organizations, her family is still below the poverty line, like many families connected after the war on the organization of the state, while these children need economic safety and psychological rehabilitation easy to return to school, And start a new life forgotten by the tragedies of the past and restore their childhood, as he put it.