Posts about Israel strikes on Lebanon share old clip
- Published on March 5, 2026 at 10:31
- 1 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
Israel launched strikes on Lebanon as war spiralled in the Middle East, ignited by joint US-Israeli attacks in February 2026 that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But footage of a nighttime explosion circulating on social media does not show recent attacks on Beirut; it depicts Israel's bombing campaign in the Lebanese capital in October 2024.
"BREAKING: Israel is carrying out airstrikes on Beirut right now," reads an English-language post from a Bangladesh-based X account that shared the clip on March 3.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to Khamenei's killing.
Israeli forces retaliated by pounding targets across Lebanon, including Beirut (archived link).
Lebanese authorities said at least 72 people had been killed, 437 wounded and 83,000 displaced from their homes.
Elsewhere in the region, Tehran targeted US-linked interests in its Gulf neighbours, as well as energy infrastructure.
The explosion video also surfaced on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit but it is not related to the recent conflict.
A reverse image search on Google found Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera published a longer clip of the same explosion on its Facebook page on October 6, 2024 (archived link).
The caption says the video shows Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs at the time.
The falsely shared clip matches the 1:18 mark of Al Jazeera's video.
AFP distributed footage of the strikes on the same day (archived link).
According to Lebanese state media, Israeli strikes hit south Beirut on October 5, 2024 and into the next day, some of them "very violent", with AFP correspondents hearing explosions for over two hours (archived link).
Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September 2024 in response to the group's cross-border fire in support of its ally Hamas, before a ceasefire in November that year halted the fighting (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to recent strikes on Iran.
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
