11-Year-Old Boy Says Participates in Fake White Helmets Video on Chemical Attack in Ghouta

The Russia 24 TV channel released a video of an interview with Hassan Diab. Diab said that he and his mother heard loud voices on the street, urging everyone to rush to the hospitals. When Hassan entered the hospital, unknown people grabbed him, poured water on him and then put him with other patients.

“We were in the basement. Mom told me that today we don’t have anything to eat and that we will eat tomorrow. We heard a cry outside, calling ‘go to the hospital’. We ran to the hospital and as soon as I entered, they grabbed me and started pouring water on me,” Diab said.

His father continued the story. He was at his work when he heard that his son was in hospital. He rushed to the hospital and found his family there in good health. He added that he was on the street, smoking and didn’t feel any chemical weapon. According to him, it turned out militants gave all the participants food — dates, cookies and rice — and then released them.

“There were no chemical weapons. I smoked outside and felt nothing. I entered the hospital and saw my family. Militants gave them dates, cookies and rice for participating in this film and released everyone to their homes,” Hassan’s father said.

The TV channel also broadcast an interview with a doctor who was in the hospital when the White Helmets filmed their fake video. He said that no patients with signs of chemical weapons-related injuries arrived that day, but there were many people with respiratory problems due to smoke and dust from the recent bombing. All doctors were busy taking care of them and didn’t have time to react to the White Helmets’ film crew.

The White Helmets is a Syrian NGO, financed by several Western countries, which is associated with staging and filming false-flag chemical attacks. They have been seen several times working with terrorist groups in Syria.

On April 9 the group published another video suggesting that doctors in one of the Douma hospitals were treating patients that had suffered from the chemical attack and accused Damascus of the ordeal. However, the information that later surfaced, as well as witness testimonies, demonstrated that it was staged, performed by the White Helmets.

Immediately after the alleged attack, Moscow dispatched its chemical corps to determine whether there was an actual attack and if there were victims in need of treatment. The Russian crew didn’t find any traces of chemical weapons or any victims in the nearby hospital. Moscow and Damascus invited the OPCW to come to Douma and investigate the incident.

Also in June 2016, the White Helmets made another story about Omran Daqneesh, a 5-year-old boy whose image became a symbol of the suffering in Syria’s Aleppo after he was photographed following an August 2016 attack.

Early Saturday morning, Washington and its allies unleashed scores of missiles on civilian and military facilities in Syria in response to an alleged gas attack in Douma, which the West blamed on Bashar Assad’s government.

Immediately after the alleged chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta, the United States and its allies accused the Damascus government of killing civilians with prohibited weapons.

Notably, the bombing occurred just hours before the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) experts were set to carry out an on-site inspection in Douma on Saturday to establish whether chemical weapons had been used there.

Damascus and Moscow previously rejected the chemical attack accusations, saying the whole thing may have been fabricated. Russia and Syria have also called on the international community for an independent investigation.

Responding to the typically unverified claims, the Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed that as fake news, while the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the reports about the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction by the Syrian forces were being spread by the White Helmets, who have been repeatedly busted for fabricating stories and providing fake footage. According to Moscow, no traces of chemical agents had been found in the area where the alleged attack had taken place, and the information was being used to undermine the ceasefire in Syria and prevent the envisaged evacuation of militants from Douma.

The Russian Reconciliation Center has also spoken with doctors in the town, as well as the Syrian Red Crescent, who reported that they had not received any patients with signs of chemical poisoning.

Syrian officials have over and over again denied the allegations, arguing that the chemical attack was staged by terrorist groups, and the government did not need such measures to curb the militants.

The international community has voiced concerns about the use of chemical weapons inside of Syria since the alleged use of sarin gas in Damascus in 2013. Following the incident, Syria joined the OPCW and agreed to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal. In January 2016, the OPCW issued a statement confirming that the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons had been completed.