High Up in Jabal Alzawiya - Northern Idlib/Syria

A picture taken in the midst of the brutal shelling in Northern Syria. Captured by ITV's senior international correspondent: John Irvine. To the right, senior
cameraman: Sean Swan.
We were covering the harsh clashes between the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Iranian backed Syrian regime.
Being situated at the frontline, we were targeted with missiles and gunshots continuously; forcing us to retreat slowly.
As we were making our way back – crawling, a pickup truck filled with reinforcements of FSA soldiers was making
its way to the frontline.
“We will be your human shield” one stated, having been at the frontline for nearly two hours, capturing what we needed to capture - we declined.
We were all supplied with armour vests for our protection by ITV News' Tim Singleton, who was my Director of newsgathering. However, he had given us an extra vest to have in our possession for whatever reason necessary.
Given that the FSA soldier stated that he would be our human
shield against the Assad regime, we decided to give him this vest for his protection.. and they left for the frontline.
Fifteen minutes later, as me, John and Sean were making our way back towards our vehicle with our security, we witnessed the same pickup truck that we saw earlier make its way towards us, and at the back was the same person that we gave that extra vest to –
injured by a few Iranian backed Assad gunshots to his chest.
What a touching moment it was for us all, that random act of kindness with his words towards us has earned him a vest, and it is because of God's will, that vest is the reason why that injured man is until this moment – still breathing. #ITVNews #JohnIrvine #SeanSwan #TimSingleton #Syria