System Of A Down's Dolmayan wants to adopt Syrian child

A picture of the Syrian child identified by System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan — The Syrian child identified by System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan has been so moved by an image of a child affected by war in Syria that he wants to track the youngster down and adopt him or her.

Dolmayan posted a picture of the child to his Instagram page and asked his followers to pass on any information. He also vowed to raise the child as a Muslim if that is their background.

He says: “If anyone anywhere knows anything about this child in Syria I am looking to adopt him/her, so please send any info. FYI I will raise the child Muslim if their heritage is so.”

Conflict in Syria has left many children orphaned, with charity Unicef saying: “More than eight million Syrian children are in danger. Many have lost their homes, their schools and even their families.”

The image highlighted by Dolmayan appears to have been uploaded to the internet at least 10 months ago, according to one version of it on Pinterest, and it is not clear if the child is an orphan.

System Of A Down this week confirmed they had 15 songs written for what will be their sixth album. Dolmayan said: “We’ve been working on a new album for the last six months and there’s about 15 songs that I think are album-worthy.

“We don’t know what’s happening in terms of release, it’s still not 100% as far as plans go.”

A photo posted by on

System Of A Down 2017 tour dates

Jun 01: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jun 02: Nurnberg Rock Im Park, Germany
Jun 04: Mendig Rock Am Ring, Germany
Jun 07: Nancy Open Air Zenith, France
Jun 09: Download Festival, UK
Jun 10: Paris Download Festival, France
Jun 12: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
Jun 13: Berlin Wuhlheide, Germany
Jun 14: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany
Jun 16: Nickelsdorf Nova Rock, Austria
Jun 17: Lodz Impact Festival, Poland
Jun 20: Nimes Festival, France
Jun 23: Madrid Download Festival, Spain
Jun 30: Arras Main Square Festival, France
Jul 02: Arras Main Square Festival, France

Watch a huge orchestra cover System Of A Down's Chop Suey!

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.