Family struggles as children killed or permanently disabled in war

China

Family struggles as children killed or permanently disabled in war

2025-06-01 11:58 Last Updated At：23:57

A Yemen family who lost three children in one day and had one other boy disabled are struggling with life as the civil war persists.

Seven-year-old boy Hamed Al-Athouri has been living in a community in central Yemen's Taiz where crossfires frequently breakout, killing and injuring countless civilians. On Oct 30, 2021, he narrowly escaped a deadly bombing that killed three of his siblings and left the young boy with an impaired leg.

"We were walking out of a store when a rocket fell on us. Then my siblings were killed," said Hamed.

"The disaster killed three of our children. Thank god, Hamed survived, but he was injured and has to live with an impaired leg for the rest of his life, which will always cause pain. We were heartbroken when we got the bad news and we couldn't figure out why such an unexpected disaster would happen to us. We suffered great pains and felt hopeless," said Mustafa Al-Athouri, Hamed's father.

Hamed was only three when he lost one of his lower leg. Four year has passed, he is still struggling with the inconvenience of using a prosthetic leg, which he received from a charity organization.

"I wear the prosthetic leg frequently. Sometimes I take it off and sometimes I put it on. I can walk with it, but it hurts a lot. I don't wear it during night," said Hamed.

Buying a suitable prosthetic leg to ease Hamed's pain is a costly burden for his family, but his parents are doing as much as they can to help their son. They often carry him on their back around the city.

"His mother carries him to school on her back and then carries him back home after class. Watching other children run freely while knowing my son has to live with an impaired leg forever breaks my heart. I call on all the political forces to stop the war as soon as possible and stop inflicting the pain of living with disabilities to people or the pain of losing family members," said Mustafa Al-Athouri.

Senior CPC official meets Belarusian delegation

Li Xi, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met with a delegation led by Dmitry Krutoi, head of the Administration of the President of Belarus, in Beijing on Monday.

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said China is ready to work with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and continue to firmly support each other on issues regarding each other's core interests and major concerns.

China is willing to enhance the alignment of development strategies and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen multilateral collaboration and promote the bilateral ties with Belarus, Li said.

Krutoi said Belarus is firmly committed to developing the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and stands ready to learn from China's experience in state governance and party building to push the bilateral ties to a higher level.