RT Arabic has traveled to the Douma hospital shown in footage of the aftermath of the alleged chemical weapons attack. The crew talked to a boy featured in the video, who recounted the events.
Hassan Diab, 11, appears to be the trembling boy seen in the video of the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta city. The footage was circulated by mainstream media after being posted by the so-called Douma Revolution group on Facebook.
The organization was one of those, along with the controversial White Helmets, which claimed that the Syrian government was behind the alleged chemical attack in the city on April 7. An RT Arabic crew visited the hospital seen in the alleged chemical attack video. In a bid to shed light on the story, the crew also caught up with the youngster, who was portrayed as a ‘victim’ in the footage.
He says he was with his mother when they were urged to rush to the hospital. “We were outside, and they told all of us to go into the hospital. I was immediately taken upstairs, and they started pouring water on me,” the boy recalled.
“The doctors started filming us here [in the hospital], they were pouring water and taking videos,” he added. Hassan’s father later hurried to the hospital. “I was very surprised, and asked what had happened, why my son's eyes were red. I found out that it was water, but it was cold, he could have got sick, he was undressed,” the man recalled.
Russian broadcaster VGTRK was the first to find the boy and his father and break the story. Now, Moscow is planning to show the video about Hassan at the next meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday.
Despite the doubts, unconfirmed social media posts and claims by the White Helmets were enough for the American-British-French coalition to strike Syria on April 14 over the alleged attack. The US-led force was so sure of its ‘sources’ that it went on with the strikes even though the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had not even started working on the ground to establish the truth.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!