Clip shows missile-hit building in Lebanon, not Pakistan

Published on May 7, 2025 at 10:50
3 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

Before New Delhi and Islamabad exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested border in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in two decades, a video was shared in posts that falsely claimed it showed an Indian missile strike on Pakistan. The video in fact shows an Israeli air strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut in November 2024.

"Pakistan's view after the attack on Jammu and Kashmir. Powerful Indian Army," reads the Hindi-language caption of a video shared on Facebook on April 25, 2025.

The video, which shows crowds watching on as a missile strikes a building, circulated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish all those responsible for an attack in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 men (archived link).

New Delhi has accused Islamabad of backing the attack, but Pakistan denies any having had any role.

Despite calls from the international community for the two sides to step back from the brink of war, the nuclear-armed neighbours exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival (archived link).

At least 34 deaths were reported, with Islamabad saying 26 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least eight dead from Pakistani shelling.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on May 5, 2025

The video also surfaced in similar posts on Facebook and X but it in fact shows an Israeli air strike in Beirut.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted by Turkey's public broadcaster TRT World on YouTube on November 22, 2024 (archived link).

Both the text on the video and its caption read, "Israeli air strike hits Lebanese neighbourhood of Chiyah".

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the TRT World video (right)

Footage of the strike filmed from a different angle by an AFP journalist was also published on YouTube (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the video from AFP (right)

The AFP video is titled, "Moment Israeli strike hits building in Beirut's southern suburbs".

"The latest raids follow intense Israeli attacks on south Beirut as well as other areas in Lebanon's south and east, where Israel says it has been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants," adds its description.

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Pahalgam attack here, here and here.

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