Clip shows fires at Aleppo oil refineries in March 2021, not attack on Syrian rebels in December 2024
- Published on December 9, 2024 at 09:37
- 3 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa, AFP Mexico
- Translation and adaptation Pasika KHERNAMNUOY , AFP Thailand
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The video -- showing multiple fires accompanied by the echoes of explosions -- was shared in a Thai-language Facebook post on December 2, 2024.
Its caption read: "Russian air force attacks Al-Nusra convoy in rural areas of eastern Idlib, destroying dozens of vehicles carrying ammunition and equipment, and killing several terrorists."
The Syrian rebel alliance that launched a lightning offensive against government forces is dominated by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that has controlled the northwestern Idlib province since 2019 (archived link).
HTS's precursor was the Al-Nusra Front, which was linked to the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. In 2016, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani announced his group had cut ties with the jihadists and Al-Nusra was dissolved the following year (archived link).
The same footage was also shared in Arabic, English, Spanish, and French with similar claims.
The posts circulated days before the rebels swept into the capital Damascus on December 8, ending Assad's brutal reign (archived link).
The rebel alliance seized control of Aleppo on November 27 -- a shock offensive that saw government forces lose control of the country's second-largest city for the first time since the civil war started more than a decade ago (archived link).
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian and Russian aircraft staged deadly strikes in support of government forces.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that warplanes had destroyed a large convoy carrying "terrorist" ammunition and equipment in Idlib.
The video circulating online, however, has circulated since 2021.
Missile strike on oil refineries
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted on Facebook on March 6, 2021 by Arabic news site Asharq News (archived link).
The video's description says the blazes were caused by a missile strike near oil facilities in the Tarehin region of al-Bab city in rural Aleppo.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the falsely shared video (left) and the clip posted by Asharq News (right):
The Syrian Civil Defence, first responders known as the "White Helmets", also posted a video of their efforts to extinguish the flames on X on March 6, 2021 (archived link).
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed and more than 20 others injured by the missile strikes, which it said were launched from Russian warships and by allied Syrian government forces (archived link).
The war monitor said the area was controlled by Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the latest conflict in Syria.
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