For many watching from a distance, the shock value of reports about the aftermath of barrel bombs, suicide attacks, torture and starving civilians can diminish with repetition.
One tactic that some Syrian activists are deploying to try to shortcut this is to tap into the global phenomenon that is Pokemon Go and to exploit it for all it's worth.
Pikachus, squirtles and weedles and the other characters in the augmented reality game have been unofficially co-opted to highlight the harsh realities of war.