The Syrian News Network, an activist network based in Syria, have added English subtitles to several videos of the aftermath of the chemical weapons attacks on several towns and villages in East and West Ghouta on August 21.
While the harrowing images shown in these videos in many ways sufficient to convey the horror of last Wednesday’s events, the English-subtitled videos give greater insight into the panic and suffering faced by civilian victims. We are showing these videos not for shock value, but in an attempt to convey to as wide an audience as possible the events of August 21.
Warning — graphic images.
This video was taken in a field hospital in the immediate aftermath of the attacks in East Ghouta. Thousands of victims flooded makeshift hospitals, some of which were set up in schools and mosques. Local medical staff — some of whom died in the attacks — reported being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of victims. Doctors also reported that stocks of medicines — particularly atropine — were depleted in treating the victims.
This video shows the distress of a father whose two small children have died in the attacks. The distraught father cries out in desperation to his children to wake up, as people around him try to calm him down:
This video was filmed in Irbeen, East Ghouta on August 22, a day after the attacks. Local residents have lined up the bodies in a makeshift morgue, to prepare them as best they can for their burial. Many of the dead had to be buried in mass graves.
This video also shows bodies — mostly children — in Kfar Batna, lined up for burial on August 21, the day of the attacks:
This video, filmed on August 23, shows a young man from one of the towns hit by the chemical attacks, Muadamiyyat As-Shaam. Like many victims, he fled the attack site and sought medical treatment elsewhere. The man, now in Daraya, survived the attack but is paralyzed and cannot speak:
