A BOY who was filmed being hosed down with water in a distressing Syrian chemical attack video told Russian state TV civilians were bribed with food to help stage the footage.

Hassan Diab, 11, claimed he was tricked into taking part, while his father and other hungry participants were given "dates, biscuits and rice".

4 Hassan Diab, pictured in a distressing Syrian chemical attack video, said he was tricked into it Credit: East2West

After a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent sarin gas was dropped in the besieged town of Douma, emerging pictures showed kids foaming at the mouth.

But in the wake of the attack, a nervous-looking Hassan told Russian state media he heard loud shouts on the street urging people to rush to hospitals.

Speaking to state-run Rossiya 24, he said: "We were in the basement. Mum 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.”

4 Hassan told Russian state TV he ran into the hospital with his mum where 'unknown people' suddenly doused them in water Credit: East2West

4 A nervous-looking Hassan told Russian state media the video was staged Credit: East2West

4 Russia's state-run Rossiya 24 aired Hassan Omar speaking about the 'staged' video Credit: East2West

His father Omar said in the report by well-known Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny that he was at work when he was told his son was in hospital.

Omar added: "I entered the hospital and saw my family. There were no chemical weapons. I smoked outside and felt nothing.

"Militants gave them dates, biscuits and rice for participating in this film and released everyone to their homes.”

Moscow insists there was no chemical attack on Douma, and that Western-backed NGO White Helmets staged the footage.

Russia claims Syria chemical attack on Douma was staged by BRITAIN and insists it had ‘proof’

The channel interviewed a doctor who claimed no patients showed signs of the impact of chemical weapons.

He told Sputnik: "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."

Meanwhile, state-owned Rossiya 1 seized on comments on the BBC by Lord West, former First Sea Lord, and security adviser to ex-premier Gordon Brown.

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He questioned the evidence in the Douma chemical attack, and was challenged by presenter Annita McVeigh he may be "muddying the waters" at a time when Britain is "in an information war" with Russia.

Moscow reports edited out Lord West calling Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad a "loathsome man" and the peer's dismissal as "nonsense" of Russian claims of British involvement in the Douma incident.

They ignored his words that the Russians “lie as a matter of policy".

This comes as broadcasting regulator Ofcom launched seven investigations into the impartiality of Russia's state-financed news channel RT, in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Ofcom claimed to have found seven programmes in which a balance of views may not have been presented, potentially breaching the broadcasting code, according to reports.

Harrowing footage showed kids foaming at the mouth after a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent sarin gas was dropped on the rebel-held town on April 7, 2018.

The UK, US and French launched joint airstrikes in retaliation to the chemical warfare atrocity against civilians.

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