The two sisters were walking home when they spotted a metal orb about the size of a softball. It was this big,” one of the sisters, Duaa, 10, said recently, stretching the fingers on her left hand as wide as she could. She recalled how her sister Rawa’a, 11, then handed her the bomb while she was holding their seven-month-old brother, Mitib, on her hip. Rawa’a lost her left eye, and Mitib’s cheeks still bear scars from the explosion. Syria’s 12-year conflict — now largely at a stalemate — has wrought widespread destruction and killed more than 500,000 people while forcing millions more to flee their homes.

---

Persons: Rawa’a, Mitib, — Locations: Syria