Video shows Libyan military parade, not 'Saudi troops sent to the Philippines'
- Published on July 12, 2024 at 11:13
- 4 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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"They are going to the Philippines, because they will help our country," read Tagalog-language text overlaid on a TikTok video shared on July 3, 2024.
"They are ready to destroy China. July 2, 2024," it added, followed by emoji flags for the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.
The video, which was viewed nearly 500,000 times, appears to show hundreds of military vehicles amassed on an open square.
The same video was shared elsewhere on TikTok here and here, as well as on Facebook.
It circulated as tensions in the South China Sea soared following a series of escalating confrontations between Philippine and Chinese ships.
The most serious happened on June 17 when Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine navy boats during a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in Spratly Islands.
The two sides agreed on July 2 to "de-escalate tensions" over the strategic waterway.
But the video circulating online does not show Saudi troops sent to the Philippines.
Colonel Xerxes Trinidad, public affairs chief of the Philippine armed forces, told AFP on July 12: "Saudi Arabia did not send troops and equipment to the Philippines on July 2. The videos circulating online claiming otherwise are disinformation."
The armed forces later posted about the false claim on their official Facebook page (archived link).
There have also been no official reports of the Middle Eastern country flying military troops to the Philippines on July 2.
Libyan military parade
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a higher-resolution version of the footage that was uploaded to TikTok on May 16, 2024 (archived link).
A screen showing the Libyan flag can be seen at the higher-resolution video's 18-second mark.
The video also provides a clearer view of an emblem of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) -- loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar -- on the side of the military vehicles (archived link).
Below are screenshot comparisons of the false post (left), and the May 16 TikTok video (right), with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP:
A keyword search of AFP's archives found a similar two-minute video of a military parade in Benghazi, Libya published on the same day.
Its caption read: "Libya's military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control eastern and part of southern Libya, attend a parade at Benina International Airport in Benghazi to mark the 10th anniversary of the 'al-Karama' (Dignity) military operation. The operation was launched in 2014 against factions, which Haftar described as 'terrorists'."
The video was credited to Al Masar TV, an Arabic-language news channel based in Libya.
A search of Al Masar TV's official Facebook page led to a livestream of the parade on May 16 (archived link).
Its Arabic-language caption said, "Special coverage: The official celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Revolution of Dignity against Terrorism begins".
Drone footage at the livestream's 2:01:08 mark shows military vehicles in formation in front of a large screen and white tents, which matches how the vehicles are orientated in the falsely shared video.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the video by Al Masar TV (right):
Satellite imagery of the Benina International Airport on Google Maps also shows the falsely shared video was filmed in Libya.
White markings on the tarmac and a white structure next to the runway correspond to features seen at the falsely shared video's 15-second mark and one-minute, 17-second mark.
AFP has repeatedly debunked false posts suggesting "war" over the disputes in the South China Sea.
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