Old video misrepresented as Iran's missile strike on Israel in Middle East war
- Published on March 19, 2026 at 03:48
- 2 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
Iran launched several rounds of missiles at Israel in March in retaliation for a strike that killed its supreme leader in February 2026, but a video circulating on social media does not show the impact of the strikes on Tel Aviv. It was in fact filmed in June 2025 after Iran unleashed a deadly attack in revenge for Israel's unprecedented onslaught hitting military and nuclear targets across the country.
"The Iron Dome missile defence system, hailed as the 'Guardian of the Skies', once provided Israel with an invisible shield through precise interceptions. Yes, it truly is invisible now," says a simplified Chinese X post published on March 9, 2026.
The clip shows damaged buildings and vehicles in the Ramat Gan district of Tel Aviv in Israel as rescue workers stand by at the scene.
A voiceover can be heard saying in Mandarin: "I am currently in Ramat Gan, Israel. It is 5pm Beijing time on March 5th now. Just two hours ago, missiles launched from Iran struck this area."
Both Iran and Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group have targeted Tel Aviv in a series of retaliatory strikes after the United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28, killing the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (archived link).
Iran launched several rounds of missiles at Israel on March 5, the Israeli military said, triggering alerts in several areas and explosions heard in Jerusalem (archived link).
Weeks after, an Iranian missile barrage killed two people near Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, medics said on March 18, with the national railway company announcing shrapnel impact disrupted train services (archived link).
Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said that, according to an initial assessment of the deadly impact, a residential building was hit by a cluster bomb in Ramat Gan, a city just outside Tel Aviv.
Similar claims have emerged on Facebook, TikTok, Weibo, Sina, and NetEase as well as in other languages such as English, Arabic, and Urdu.
But the video was filmed months before the Middle East war.
2025 video
Reverse image searches on Google found videos showing the same scene uploaded on June 20, 2025 (archived here and here).
Subsequent reverse image searches on Google led to separate video reports published in the US-based Spanish-language outlet El Diario and broadcaster CNN (archived here and here).
The reports said the footage showed the impact of Iranian missiles that struck Tel Aviv and nearby areas such as Ramat Gan on June 19, 2025.
An AFP video filmed on June 19, 2025 depicts the damage of the building in Ramat Gan that appears in the circulating clip (archived link).
Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on Iran the week prior that prompted Tehran to strike back with salvo after salvo of missiles and drones (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Middle East war.
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