Old Yemen video misrepresented as Iran's attack on US bases in Saudi Arabia
- Published on March 2, 2026 at 11:17
- 2 min read
- By AFP Bangladesh, AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Eyamin SAJID
Iran carried out strikes against countries in the Gulf region that host US bases in response to US-Israeli air raids in February 2026, but a video of a huge fire and smoke billowing from a coastal area does not depict the aftermath of an Iranian attack targeting US bases in Saudi Arabia. The footage in fact shows Israeli air strikes on a Yemeni port in 2024.
"Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), the US base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is burning. Seeing such news feels me very peaceful in my heart. We all pray that Allah grants victory to Iran," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post published on March 1, 2026.
The post includes a video of a massive fire and a thick cloud of smoke rising near a commercial site.
Iran responded to a wave of US-Israeli air strikes by launching retaliatory missile and drone attacks on multiple countries hosting some of the tens of thousands of US troops deployed across the Middle East, notably in the Gulf Arab states (archived link).
Saudi Arabia's Riyadh international airport and the Prince Sultan Airbase, which houses US military personnel, were targeted by Iranian missiles before it was intercepted, a Gulf source told AFP (archived link).
Similar claims have been shared on Facebook. The video was also shared in multiple languages such as Arabic and Malay, while another Tagalog post said the clip shows an oil facility hit by Iranian strikes in Saudi Arabia's Jizan region.
But the video is old and shows an Israeli airstrike in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida.
A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes found the same footage published on the YouTube accounts of Egyptian media outlet Rassd News Network and Yemeni news organisation AIC TV on July 20, 2024 (archived here and here).
Both media outlets said it shows Israeli airstrikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeida. Other media outlets also published different angles of the blaze (archived here and here).
The long-distance attack hit Hodeida harbour -- a key gateway for fuel and international aid into Huthi-held parts of Yemen. It also marked Israel's first strike against the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country (archived link).
The Huthis, who control swathes of the country including much of its Red Sea coast, said the attack struck fuel storage facilities at the harbour and killed six port employees with the Yemen Petroleum Company.
AFP distributed a video of the fires raging in the port at the time.
The video had previously circulated in another misleading context that was debunked by AFP.
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