Footage of air strikes in United Arab Emirates near Burj Khalifa is AI-generated
- Published on March 11, 2026 at 09:10
- 2 min read
- By AFP Thailand
Iran has hit targets in Israel and neighbouring countries in the Gulf region that host US interests in retaliation for a strike that killed its supreme leader supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but a clip spreading on social media with a false claim it showed an air raid in Dubai is in fact made with AI. The clip contains visual errors, indicating it was generated using AI tools.
The clip appears to show fighter jets bombing a neighbourhood next to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and was uploaded to Facebook on March 3, 2026.
It has since accumulated over 5,300 views with a caption saying a second round of Iranian army attack had taken place Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with Chinese assistance.
Iranian forces retaliated against Israel and several Gulf states hosting US interests with missile and drone strikes after a joint US-Israeli attack that killed Khamenei on February 28 (archived link).
Those targeted included the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- a US ally and home to American military installations. Explosions rocked Dubai's Palm Jumeirah man-made island and drone debris caused a fire at the Burj Al Arab ultra-luxury hotel.
China has expressed anger over Israeli-US strikes on Iran, but analysts told AFP it will not risk its interests by confronting Washington and helping its long-standing partner despite hits to its oil imports (archived link).
The video was shared elsewhere on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X in English and Burmese.
But a reverse image search reveals it was first shared on March 1 by a Facebook account labelled "digital creator" which regularly publishes AI-generated videos (archived link).
The video captioned "Dubai suffers an attack" was deleted, before it was re-uploaded on March 5, with a new caption saying it is "not actual footage" of the attack (archived link).
The user has not responded to an AFP request for comment.
A close inspection of the clip found visual errors consistent with AI-generated visuals, including a distorted hand on the balcony guardrail and jets that are disproportionately large compared to the Burj Khalifa.
Buildings seen in the false video also do not match the Dubai skyline, as seen in this photo published by AFP:
A further analysis of the video on Hive Moderation detector found the video is likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content (archived link).
AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation related to the Middle East war.
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