Footage of Turkey military drill falsely shared as Pakistan 'preparing Palestinian aid'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on December 1, 2023 at 08:24
- Updated on December 1, 2023 at 10:02
- 4 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
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"Pakistan Air Force leaves to protect Palestinian Muslim brothers and sisters," reads the caption of a YouTube Short posted on November 10.
Text saying "Pakistan Zindabad" (long live Pakistan) is superimposed on the video, which shows men in military uniform looking on as fighter jets prepare to take off.
The video has more than 19,000 views, attracting thousands more views on TikTok here and here.
Israel announced a resumption of combat in Gaza on December 1, carrying out a series of airstrikes across the territory, as a truce expired with no agreement to extend it.
The renewed conflict dashed hopes for an extension of a seven-day truce during which dozens of hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and more aid entered the ravaged Gaza Strip.
The truce had paused fighting that began on October 7 when Hamas militants broke through Gaza's militarised border into Israel.
The surprise attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants kidnapped about 240, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground military campaign in Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.
In Pakistan, the government condemned the "indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by Israeli authorities" and thousands of Muslims have taken part in protests in support of Palestinians.
Training exercise
Reverse image searches on Google found a portion of the video shared in false posts in a YouTube Short posted by a Pakistan-based account called Agile Falcon YT on May 14 (archived links here and here).
According to the video's description, it shows Anatolian Eagle exercises held in Turkey in May 2023, where several NATO members took part in drills alongside units from other countries including Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
It also attributes the sources of the clips in its description to three YouTube channels called savunmasanayi.org, Defence Turk and the AliSami Palaz Channel.
The first clip in which a pilot gestures in a jet fighter's cockpit was uploaded to a channel called savunmasanayi.org on May 9, 2023 (archived link).
A spokesperson for the channel told AFP the clip was shot by their team at the Anatolian Eagle 2023 training exercise, adding that the video "was shot on May 8, 2023. The location was in Turkey, Konya 3rd Main Jet Base Command".
Below is a screengrab comparison of the false video (left) and the video from the savunmasanayiorg channel showing the same scene at the 7:24 mark (right):
Another part of the false video -- which shows a group of men lining up in front of fighter jets -- was posted by a channel called Defence Turk on May 9, 2023 (archived link).
AFP also contacted the channel and received email confirmation that they shot the video covering the Anatolian Eagle 2023 training.
Below is a screengrab comparison of the false video (left) and the 13:21 mark of the clip uploaded on the Defence Turk channel showing the same scene (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:
The Pakistan Air Force also released press release footage on May 16 on taking part in the drill on their official YouTube and X accounts, which show the same scene at the 42nd-second mark (archived links here and here).
A third part of the false video -- which shows a man talking to a radio -- can be traced to a video uploaded on a YouTube channel called Ali Sami Palaz.
The video was uploaded on May 10, 2023 with a title that reads: "Anatolian Eagle Exercise 2023" (archived link).
"I went to watch the exercise together with aerial photographers from many countries of the world," the video's description reads in English. "15 countries have participated in the exercise, which started on 02 May 2023 in the city of Konya."
Below is a screengrab comparison of the false video (left) and the clip uploaded on the Ali Sami Palaz channel at the 10:29 mark.
NATO also said in a statement on May 11 that the exercise was held between May 5 and 12 out of the Jet Base Konya in Turkey (archived link).
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