Video shows Dubai air show, not US army 'abandoning' Dubai base
- Published on March 13, 2026 at 04:42
- 2 min read
- By AFP Malaysia
After Iran struck several Gulf countries hosting American interests in retaliation for a joint US-Israel strike targeting the Islamic republic on February 28, 2026, social media users shared a video falsely claiming it shows US forces abandoning a base in the United Arab Emirates. The Instagram user who recorded the original clip told AFP it was filmed during an aerial display for the UAE's Day of Solidarity on January 17, before the war broke out.
"US forces have left their base in Dubai with all their military assets," says part of the Malay-language caption of a Facebook post shared on March 2, 2026.
The caption adds that the United States has left the UAE to fend for itself at a critical time.
The video shows military aircraft flying in formation along a coastline, with the Dubai skyline in the background. Sticker text on the video says, "American forces abandon Dubai base with equipment".
Similar posts were shared on Threads, Instagram, and TikTok as well as by users from India, Philippines, Kenya and Bangladesh, as war erupted in the Middle East following a joint US-Israeli strike on February 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (archived link).
Iran responded by launching missiles and drones towards Israel and Gulf nations that host US interests (archived link).
The UAE's ambassador to the United Nations said the country had been subjected to more than 1,400 attacks since the conflict began, of which "the vast majority were intercepted and neutralised" by the country's armed forces (archived link).
At least 25 Iranian attacks have targeted US sites or locations housing US military personnel in the Middle East since the start of the war, according to an AFP analysis using satellite images (archived link).
Of these attacks -- recorded between February 28 and March 11 at 1500 GMT -- 21 targeted 13 different military sites housing American personnel, with the Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE targeted at least twice.
But the clip showing aircraft flying above Dubai does not show US forces leaving the UAE.
Solidarity Day air show
A Google reverse image search using a longer version of the video shared with the same false claim on YouTube led to the same footage posted on Instagram on January 17 (archived link)
The post reads: "Today is the UAE’s Day of Solidarity. A reminder of unity, strength and collective spirit. Watching the fly-past sweep over Palm Jumeirah and the Burj Al Arab was one of those uniquely Dubai moments."
The Instagram user told AFP in a March 11 message that the video was filmed on the UAE’s Day of Solidarity on January 17, which commemorates a 2022 Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi that struck an oil facility and the airport and killed three civilians (archived link).
"It has nothing to do with the current situation. It was filmed from a small area in front of Palm Jumeirah, not the Palm itself. It's multiple videos from the same day," she said.
UAE-based English-language newspaper Gulf News reported the commemorative events that day included aerial displays by the country's armed forces (archived link).
Dubai’s Media Office shared a similar clip as part of a compilation about the event on its official Instagram account on January 18 (archived link). AFP reached out to the office for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Read more of AFP's fact-checking work on the Middle East war here.
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