Video shows 2020 fire, not Iranian strike on Dubai airportt
- Published on March 19, 2026 at 17:04
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
Iran has rained missiles and drones on the UAE, at times disrupting travel at Dubai's airport, but social media posts claiming a video shows the international flight hub engulfed in flames after a strike are false. The footage shows a massive fire that scorched a market in Ajman, another city in the United Arab Emirates, in 2020.
"Video showing the closest footage from the site of the burning fuel tanks at Dubai International Airport (DXB)," said a March 16, 2026 X post sharing the footage.
"Explosive Chaos at #DXB: #Iranian_Drone Ignites Hellish Inferno," said another.
Similar posts -- many directly blaming Iran for the damages -- spread in multiple languages across X and other platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.
The posts gained traction after Emirati authorities on March 16 temporarily suspended flights at Dubai's airport, one of the world's busiest travel hubs, after a "drone-related incident" sparked a fuel tank fire nearby. AFP images captured a thick plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the airport.
Tehran has fired more than 1,900 missiles and drones on the UAE since US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader plunged the Middle East into war at the end of February. The attacks have piled economic pressure on the oil-rich nation and disrupted commercial air travel, with several attacks targeting the airport in Dubai.
But the video circulating online is unrelated to Iranian strikes on the airport.
Reverse image searches found the same clip on Facebook as early as August 6, 2020, in a Nepali-language post describing a roaring fireball in Ajman, another UAE city (archived here).
According to Gulf News, an English news source in Dubai, the inferno broke out at a public market on August 5, destroying as many as 125 shops (archived here and here). The market was closed at the time as a Covid-19 safety measure, and no casualties were reported, the outlet said.
AFP geolocated the market and another building in the footage using Google Street View, further confirming the location (archived here and here).
Other videos embedded in the Gulf News articles -- and several additional clips published on social media -- show the same commercial structure ablaze (archived here, here, here and here).
AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation about attacks on the Dubai airport and the Middle East war.
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