Posts recycle Yemeni port blaze footage after Israeli airstrikes

As Israel expanded its raids against Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, a clip showing fire and smoke rising above Yemen's Huthi-controlled Hodeida was viewed tens of thousands of times on social media alongside a false claim it was filmed after Israeli strikes in September 2024.  The video, however, shows a different Israeli strike on the port city in July 2024.

"On September 29, according to Israeli media reports, the Israel Defense Forces launched strikes on oil tanks, power plants and two seaports in Yemen. The United States was informed of the operation," read the Chinese-language Weibo post shared by Russia Today on September 30, 2024.

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Screenshot of the post falsely used the video, captured on October 16, 2024

The video included in the post, viewed over 82,000 times, was published one day after Iran-backed Huthi media said at least four people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Yemen on September 30 (archived link).

The Israeli military said it was striking several targets of the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, including in the port city of Hodeida.

The Huthis are part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States, and since November 2023, have targeted Israel and its perceived interests in stated solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The clip was also shared on X in English.

But it was taken in July 2024 and shows a different Israeli airstrike on Hodeida.

July airstrikes

Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the video, followed by keyword searches, found the clip corresponds to a video uploaded to YouTube on July 20, 2024, by the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu (archived link).

According to the video's title, it shows Israeli airstrikes on oil storage facilities in Hodeida.

A man can be heard saying in Arabic "British-Israeli enemy aircraft bombed Al-Hodeidah Governorate", referring to the port's administrative area.  

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misrepresented video (left) and the footage distributed by Anadolu news agency (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the post misused the video (left) and the video uploaded by Anadolu Agency on YouTube (right)

The same video was also published by British newspaper The Telegraph and video agency Newsflare in July 2024 (archived links here  and here).

AFP released videos the same day showing fire and smoke rising above Hodeida, credited to Huthi-run Al-Masirah television (archived link).

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Huthi television footage shows fire and smoke following stikes on Yemen's Hodeida

The strike on the port, a key entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Yemen, is the first claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, about 2,000 kilometres (1,300 miles) away, AFP reported (archived link).

It killed six people and injured 83, many of them with severe burns, the rebel-run health ministry said in a statement carried by Huthi media. Three people remained missing, it said.

Israel said it carried out the strike in response to a drone attack by the Huthis on Tel Aviv which killed one person on July 19, 2024.