Ali, 23, worked as a carpenter in Homs (photographed 2017, incident happened in 2014)

One afternoon, while Ali was in the shop and his friend mended the roof, a bomb fell. His friend immediately lost both legs and one arm. He lost his testicles too.

“I stayed conscious when the shrapnel hit my stomach. I flew up in the air where more shrapnel got into my head and is still there… I believe a sniper spotted me while I flew up and hit me with a bullet, I think aiming for my heart. I landed hard, on my testicles. I am luckier than my friend; I can still have a future with children. Because of the shrapnel to the head, I have hemiparesis now. I will never be able to work as a carpenter again, but at least I can hold my baby son. My wife’s brother and father, on the other hand, were killed by the ‘flying carpet’, a regime technique where prisoners are strapped down to a hinged board, the boards are brought towards each other, bending and sometimes snapping the spine.”