10 Intense Photos Of Syria From The 18-Year-Old Reuters Stringer Who Died In Action

Eighteen-year-old photojournalist Molhem Barakat was killed in a battle for control of Aleppo's al-Kindi Hospital on December 20th, 2013.

The Syrian teenager had been photographing the war with equipment provided by Reuters since May 2013 - and his death has generated uncomfortable questions for the news agency, as covered by David Kenner at Foreign Policy.

Regardless of these questions, it's clear that Barakat had unparalleled access and took excellent pictures. With a brother in a local rebel brigade, he was routinely in the thick of rebel battles. He even identified as a participant in the revolution, as opposed to an impartial observer.

Many of the soldiers he photographed were even younger than him, some as young as 11. What they all shared was an unusual childhood, shadowed by an terrible and brutal war.

Barakat's pictures have appeared in publications all over the world. We've collected some of his most powerful work.

Some of these images are very graphic.

Mohammed, a 13-year-old fighter in the Free Syrian Army aims his weapon as he runs from snipers loyal to the Assad regime in Aleppo. He joined the rebels after his father died in the war. The gun is his father's.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

Mohammad aims his weapon through a hole in a wall in Aleppo's Bustan al-Basha district.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

Free Syrian Army fighters carry a wounded comrade during clashes with Assad's forces, near a crucial strategic stronghold outside Aleppo.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

A Free Syrian Army tank fires a shell at forces loyal to Assad.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

A rebel fighter in the Tawhid Brigade prepares homemade rockets to fire at 80th Brigade Base, strategic military target that has gone back and forth between rebels and Assad's forces.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

A rebel fighter launches a projectile 80th Brigade Base.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

Aleppo residents struggle to put out a fire caused by shelling from Assad's forces.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

Syrians attempt to enter Turkey illegally to escape the civil war.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

Free Syrian Army members remove a body from the rubble after an airstrike by Assad-loyal forces.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

A Free Syrian Army member peeks out from a damaged shop in Aleppo.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

A child sells cake in Old Aleppo.

REUTERS/Molhem Barakat