Clip shows air strikes in Lebanon, not attack on Pakistan military base

Published on May 20, 2025 at 11:29
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

Months-old footage of an Israeli air strike in Lebanon has resurfaced in posts falsely claiming it shows an Indian attack on a military base in Pakistan. While New Delhi and Islamabad traded missile and artillery attacks before the nuclear-armed rivals agreed a ceasefire, the clip has in fact circulated since September 2024 in news reports about explosions in an area on the outskirts of Beirut.

The clip, showing multiple explosions in a built-up area, was posted on X on May 10, 2025.

"Big Breaking: Visuals of Capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. Huge Blast Reported. A ballistic missile hits Pakistan Air force Base in Lahore. pakistani china made defence system can't intercept it," reads its caption.

The clip was shared hours before US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours after four days of intense fighting that left more than 70 people dead on both sides (archived link).

The fighting began when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it called "terrorist camps" in Pakistan following an April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir which killed 26 people.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it claimed were behind the attack -- the deadliest on civilians in Kashmir in decades. Pakistan denies the charge.

Screenshot of the false X post, captured on May 20, 2025

The clip also circulated in similar posts elsewhere on X and Facebook, but it in fact predates the latest conflict.

A combination of keyword and and reverse image searches using keyframes from the falsely shared clip found it had been posted by the Voice of America (VOA) on YouTube on September 28, 2024 (archived link).

The clip is credited to Abbas Sharafeddine and the Associated Press news agency, which authenticated the footage (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the footage posted by Voice of America in September 2024 (right)

The VOA YouTube video is titled, "Dramatic footage shows strike and explosions in Beirut".

Its description specifies that the strikes hit Choueifat, an area on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital.

AFP reported that the Israeli military had conducted an intense bombardment targeting Lebanese armed group Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold that flattened several residential buildings (archived link).

The Iran-backed group said its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in the strikes (archived link).

The strikes were the fiercest since Israel shifted its focus from the war in Gaza onto Hezbollah, which started fighting Israeli troops along the Lebanon border a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Gaza's health ministry says at least 53,486 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the India-Pakistan conflict here, here and here.

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