Video showing explosion in Yemen falsely linked to Hezbollah attack on Israel
- Published on November 19, 2024 at 12:34
- Updated on November 19, 2024 at 13:57
- 3 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Samad UTHMAN , AFP Nigeria
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“Hezbollah attacks a petrochemical plant south of Haifa. Haifa is within Hezbollah rocket as a legitimate military target for the displaced Palestinians in the North (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on October 28, 2024.
In the video, a huge fireball burns in the distance while the sound of explosions is heard.
According to the date on the reel, the clip was posted a day after Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at northern Israel after declaring several areas in the region a “legitimate target” because of the presence of Israeli troops (archived here).
The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it targeted a “military industries base north of Haifa... with a large rocket salvo”.
Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23, 2024, and sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire.
The claim also appeared on Facebook and X in English while the Arabic version was debunked by AFP Fact Check.
However, the claim about the video is false.
Hudaydah bombing
Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the clip and conducted reverse image searches.
One of the results led to a Facebook video published by Turkish public broadcaster TRT World on September 29, 2024 (archived here).
The video caption described how the Israeli army had carried out “air strikes on fuel tanks in the Huthi-controlled port city of Hudaida in Yemen (sic)”.
Using Google Earth, AFP Fact Check confirmed the video was taken in Hudaydah by matching the distinct pyramid-shaped structure at a roundabout in the foreground of the video.
Hudaydah is a key entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Yemen.
On September 29, 2024, the Israeli military launched airstrikes on two ports and two power stations in the Huthi-controlled western Yemeni province of Hudaydah (archived here).
The bombings killed four people and injured 33 others, according to the rebel-affiliated Al Masirah TV.
Yemeni rebels have launched several attacks on Israel since the start of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip following Hamas' unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Huthi rebels regularly attack ships they say are linked to Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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