GENEVA, June 14. /TASS/. The father of Omran Daqneesh, the Syrian boy whose photo was disseminated by the western media as the symbol of Aleppo’s suffering, claims that members of the White Helmets pseudo-humanitarian organization turned up at the blast site before any ambulance team was called for and later used his son’s photo to achieve their own goals, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Alexei Borodavkin said during a tele-conference dedicated to the December 2016 liberation of Aleppo.

We were in our flat at the time," Mohammad Daqneesh said. "Everything was quiet, we didn’t even hear aircraft approaching but suddenly a blast occurred. While my son was being evacuated, I was surprised to see that some reporters from eastern Aleppo had turned up before the ambulance team," he emphasized.

The boy’s father also noted that his son had been photographed without his permission. "After that they began peddling the photo," Muhammad Daqneesh noted. "He had a small scratch but they were trying to frame it as if the boy was in terrible condition. They actually started marketing my son and all Syrian children."

"I would like to deliver a message to the world - children should be symbols of peace and not war, they should not be items to be peddled. I want my son to be a symbol of love and peace in Syria, as I want peace to return to Syria," Omran’s father stressed.

Omran, a healthy boy in a good mood, was also present at the tele-conference’s platform in Aleppo. However, he was too shy to address the audience and only waved his hand to the participants in the tele-conference.

Borodavkin earlier pointed out Omran’s story served as evidence proving the media's campaign is aimed at denigrating Syria's troops and the Russian Aerospace Force’s operation to liberate Aleppo.