Months-old footage misrepresented as missile attack on Pakistan

Published on May 16, 2025 at 08:31
3 min read
By AFP Middle East & North Africa
Translation and adaptation Akshita KUMARI , AFP India

Before New Delhi and Islamabad agreed to a ceasefire, bringing a halt to four days of intense fighting across their contested frontier, a video was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed Indian missile strikes on Pakistan. The footage has in fact circulated since October 2024 in news reports about missiles fired at Israel by Iran.

The video, showing a barrage of missiles and explosions illuminated against the night sky, was shared on X on May 7, 2025.

The clip, which was viewed more than 1,400 times and bears the watermark of Indian news channel DD, circulated after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on Pakistan (archived link).

"Hello @RahulGandhi and @ArvindKejriwal. Here is the video proof of Air Strike on Pakistan and its terror bases. Now don't dare to ask for proof from my beloved Indian Army," reads its caption, addressing opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal.

The politicians had in previous years asked for proof about strikes across the border, and were criticised by the ruling government (archived here and here).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on May 8, 2025

New Delhi said the strikes were in response to an attack that killed 26 tourists on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which it blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

The nuclear-armed neighbours then exchanged tit-for-tat missile, drone and fighter jet attacks which killed at least 70 people in the worst violence between the arch-rivals in decades (archived link).

The latest conflict sparked global concerns that it could spiral into a full-blown war before a ceasefire was brokered on May 10 bringing a halt to the violence.

The clip purportedly showing the Indian air strikes were also shared in similar posts on Facebook and X.

But it previously circulated in news reports from October 2024 which said it showed Nevatim airbase in Israel being struck by Iranian missiles.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage published on the YouTube channel of Indian news channel DD India on October 2, 2024 (archived link).

The title of the video reads, "Iranian missiles targeting the Nevatim airbase in the Negev Desert".

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the video posted on DD India’s YouTube channel (right)

Iran said the attack was in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in September and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in late July (archived link).

According to the Pentagon, Tehran launched about twice as many ballistic missiles as it had in its previous direct attack on Israel in April 2024.

The same video was also published on the verified YouTube account of The New York Post on October 2, 2024 (archived link). The footage was credited to video agency SCOPAL.

"The video was provided to us by an Arab Israeli agency who is a very regular supplier to SCOPAL," the agency's chief executive Andrew Steele told AFP on May 16, 2025.

AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the India-Pakistan crisis here, here and here.

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