Months-old footage of Russian market fire falsely linked to renewed Middle East conflict
- Published on July 28, 2026 at 07:44
- 2 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Middle East & North Africa, AFP Thailand
After Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US military targets in Bahrain in July 2026, social media posts recirculated an old video falsely claiming it showed a massive fire at a US base in Bahrain. The footage actually depicts a fire at a market in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December 2025.
"Bahrain on fire! Sheikh Isa Air Base and the US 5th Fleet hit by heaviest Iranian missile strikes in history," reads a Thai-language Facebook post on July 16.
The post shares a 31-second video showing a building engulfed in flames at nighttime while firefighting and rescue efforts are underway.
The video also appeared with similar claims in other Thai-language Facebook posts as well as in Arabic.
A battle over the strategic Strait of Hormuz has rekindled the war in the Middle East, with the US military reportedly hitting "dozens of Iranian military targets" in response to attacks on commercial shipping after a preliminary deal with Tehran fell apart (archived link).
The Iranian army also said it had targeted an air base in Bahrain used by the United States in retaliation for American strikes, according to Iran’s state broadcaster.
Drones targeted "aircraft shelters and parking areas, fuel storage tanks of the US military at Sheikh Isa Air Base, as well as several connecting bridges in Bahrain," the Iranian army said (archived link).
But the video does not depict the aftermath of an attack in Bahrain.
Russian market fire
A reverse image search using the video's keyframes led AFP to the same footage posted on X on December 11, 2025, describing a massive fire at one of the largest markets in St. Petersburg, Russia (archived link).
Al Jazeera English's Facebook page also shared a video showing the scene on December 11, 2025, saying the fire killed at least one person and injured several others (archived link).
Russian media organisation Moscow 24 reported that the fire broke out at the Pravoberezhny Market in St. Petersburg's Nevsky district and the blaze rapidly spread to cover an area of 1,500 square metres, according to Russian officials (archived link).
A subsequent keyword search led to photos of the fire published by Russian state news agency TASS on December 10, 2025 (archived link).
Images of the area on Google Street View also correspond to the building and billboard seen in the video (archived link).
AFP previously debunked misinformation related to the Middle East conflict in July 2026.
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