My name is A. K. I worked in a media office located on the upper floor of a building which hosted a civil medical point. I witnessed two occasions of the use of chemical weapons. The first one occurred in Harasta in 2013, and the second on August 21, 2013, in Zamalka.
The first attack:
It was early summer, and I was in the office when suddenly a call came to the medical point requesting ambulance to Harasta. They mentioned the possibility of a shelling containing toxic gases. I accompanied the ambulance teams to the shelling site, while other vehicles headed to a small medical point in the town of Beit Sawa, where some of the injured were delivered. It was after midnight when I arrived at the shelling site. I filmed the injured with my camera forgetting to taking any protective procedure. When I returned to the office, I uploaded the videos to my YouTube channel and shared the link with the media. Shortly after, I started experiencing similar symptoms, feeling suffocated. These symptoms persisted for four days, during which I regularly took medication until I recovered.
The symptoms of the affected individuals included mouth froth, body tremors, and Bulging eyes. The number of injured was estimated to be around a hundred, in addition to seven or eight military deaths because the target was a military point affiliated with the Free Syrian Army.
The second attack was on August 21:
I was at home in Misraba with my family when I heard wireless calls to go to Zamalka and assist in rescue efforts. In our neighborhood, there was a civil medical point called “Al-Barq.” I rushed to it and was shocked by the number of injured arriving.
I learned from the wireless that the shelling targeting Zamalka was a chemical weapon. I entered the medical point immediately and began to take photos of everything before my camera lens. After filming, I started feeling dizzy and experiencing visual disturbances. I returned to the office but couldn’t upload the videos on the same day due to my injury. I felt like I was going to die, breathing became difficult, and it felt as if there was a stone in my throat.
The next day, I uploaded the videos I had recorded. After a week, I felt well and went to Zamalka and Jobar to filmed the targeted areas.