The facts behind the ‘staged’ video of kids’ chemical weapons drill in Syria

A video described as showing Syrian children being trained to fake the symptoms of a chemical weapons attack has been widely shared online with fake and menacing misinformation.

RT Digital investigated the origins of the video and found that it doesn’t depict children being coerced and prepared for future propaganda videos, as falsely suggested by users on Twitter.

The video is more than four years old and the actions carried out by the children in the video are part of a play by a group called the Nesma Organization based in eastern Ghouta.

The original copy of the video was uploaded to YouTube on September 19, 2013. The Nesma Organization advertised the play on its Facebook account on September 18 and 19, 2013 – the exact timeframe the original video was uploaded to the YouTube channel whose name roughly translates into English as Rural Damascus Media.

Other videos from the Rural Damascus Media have also been shared by the Nesma Organisation’s Facebook page.

Rural Damascus Media’s description of the video reads: “The aim of the play was to teach children the horrors of being under attack by chemical weapons and to show the world its neglect and failure to take action on a man who would use such weapons against his own citizens.”

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Rural Damascus Media’s YouTube channel also contains videos of rallies where FSA (Free Syrian Army) and Al-Qaeda flags were waved.

The Nesma Organisation also has a Facebook history of sharing content from the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union. The Nesma Organisation is the Arabic translation, but the group also calls itself Aura Volunteers.

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