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The 22-year-old citizen and lifeguard of the White Helmets Volunteer Group photographed a chips factory in Khan Sheikhoun on Friday while his friends and colleagues threw the flames.
Suddenly, another explosion hit. This time, Diab became a victim, but he kept his camera running.
Dramatic footage provided to CNN by the White Helmets shows that Diab is bleeding profusely from the legs, unable to stand while asking for help.
"Guys, guys, please come wear me," he shouts to his colleagues, the video shows. "I can not move."
Several other men try to put him in safety, but without stretcher, they are forced to drag him, his bloody legs dragging through the dusty debris.
"I know you, I know you, my dear Anas!" one of Diab's friends said rushing to help him.
Then comes the whoosh of a plane, another bomb falls and the men are pinned to the ground. We catch his radio and call for backup.
Syrian forces and their allies have been hunting for more than two years the enemies of the territory they found in the long-standing conflict. Many opposition fighters and their families were taken by bus into Idlib, hit by air strikes in recent days during a regime operation aimed at retaking Syria's last major rebel stronghold.
Up to 3 million people are crammed into a rural enclave of Idlib province on the border with Turkey to the north. Among them, some 70,000 combatants, whose allegiances range from moderate to radical.
The large number of civilians crammed into this enclave and the clearly disproportionate firepower used on them prompted the UN to warn that the operation could soon become a "bloodbath". US officials fear that the regime may again use chemical warfare.
Russia, the strongest ally of the Syrian regime, has provided much of the air power behind Assad's territorial gains in recent years. Russia and Syria claim to target only terrorists, an assertion contradicted by the accounts on the ground.
Amateur video that can not be independently verified by CNN shows scenes of chaos and bloodshed throughout the province: families with children are walking through the shell of their homes; a naked woman under the debris with the exception of a protruding hand, still moving; and shelling, one after the other turning the dark gray horizon.
Diab is one of the lucky ones; he survived and continues to recover in a hospital.
"They are targeting innocent civilians and trying to kill us as many as possible," he said from his bed. "While I was saved, I told the guys to hold the camera as it contains documents that may incriminate this criminal and send him to an international court."
Despite the risks, some civilians are again on the streets during demonstrations recalling the early days of the Assad revolution in the Arab Spring of 2011.
Thousands of people crisscrossed Idlib on Friday, activists told CNN, calling not for high ideals, but for the right to survive.
"Idlib, we are with you until death," they chanted, videos.
They could be the last words of this uprising.
