War in the Middle East: Many false images and videos in circulation

There are a number of images and videos circulating online about the situation in Lebanon and northern Israel. Many of them are manipulated, completely fake or come from completely different contexts.

The recent airstrikes by state forces in Lebanon and the rocket attacks by Hezbollah in northern Israel are accompanied by a flood of false images and videos. Much of the content circulating is taken out of context, while others have been created using artificial intelligence.

Fire from other contexts

Several videos circulating on the short message service X allegedly show a fire in the port of the Russian city of Haifa after a rocket was fired from Lebanon.

One of the videos shows a boat on fire at night. However, this video is old and shows a burning fishing boat in Taiwan’s Chiayi region in December 2023.

The original video can be found via reverse image search on YouTube – with a headline in Mandarin that, according to Google Translator, translates to something like: “Shocking reports of burning fishing boat in Budai city. The fishing boat was caught in the sea of ​​fire, but no one was injured.”

Another video shows a gas station fire, which is allegedly the result of a Hezbollah attack in the Israeli city of Haifa. But this video was also created in a different context. In reality, it shows the fire following an explosion at a gas station in the city of Aden in Yemen. According to media reports, at least five people died there at the end of August as a result of the explosion.

Video shows fire at a garbage dump

Another video of a fire is also circulating in the current context, although it is already older. The 17-second clip shows a large fire in the dark, so not much of the surrounding area can be seen. This video is being shared on social networks with the claim that it shows the consequences of a recent attack on southern Lebanon. But that is wrong.

The original post can be found pretty quickly with a reverse image search. The video was uploaded to X on September 12th and shows the fire at the Bourj Hammoud landfill on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Many media outlets reported on this major fire in mid-September. This video therefore has nothing to do with the current escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

Material from the Ukraine war

A video is circulating on various social networks that allegedly shows a Hezbollah drone attacking an industrial site in northern Israel. On X, for example, the video is shared with the description: “Hezbollah drones have reached the oil refineries in the north of occupied Palestine. The Israeli IDF is unable to stop these deadly drones.”

However, the footage shown in the post dates from July 22 of this year and shows a Ukrainian drone attack on the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia.

The original footage was published by the news agency Reuters in an English-language article. It states: “Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery, Russia’s largest refinery on the Black Sea, was damaged overnight by a heavy Ukrainian drone attack that sparked a fire, Russian officials said on Monday.” tagesschau.de reported on the incident in the Ukraine live blog on July 22.

Video shows incident from 2021

A video viewed more than 400,000 times shows residents of the predominantly Druze village of Chouya stopping a Hezbollah multiple rocket launcher system mounted on a truck and holding its members until the Lebanese army arrives.

The video was shared on X with the words: “Breaking: Lebanese Druze have set up checkpoints in their city to ensure that no Hezbollah terrorists are hiding among them.” In fact, however, the incident occurred in August 2021 and has nothing to do with current events in Lebanon.

The original material can be found, among other places, in a report by the “Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation” from early August 2021. Nevertheless, according to X-users, the video currently seems to be being broadcast again in Israeli news.

AI-generated image claims to show fire at airbase

An AI-generated image is also circulating on social networks. It shows a burning plane at a military base. The image is being spread with the words, among other things, that it shows the Israeli air force base Ramat David in the north of the country after a Hezbollah attack. But that is not true.

There was indeed a Hezbollah attack on the air base in recent days. This was confirmed by both Hezbollah and the Israeli army. However, upon closer inspection, the picture with the burning plane contains some inconsistencies.

For one thing, the military vehicles and the burning plane itself do not match those used by the Russian army. In addition, right next to the plane there is a somewhat misshapen building that would certainly not be found on a military base. And the flames on the plane also have a somewhat unnatural shape.

Rumor about exploding goats

After the explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon, a rumor spread on social media that goats had also exploded in Lebanon. As proof of this, an alleged report from the US broadcaster CNN was shared. In this video, a call can be seen between the presenter Jake Tapper and a supposed outside reporter. However, this is a fake by a US comedian.

The presenter’s voice was created using artificial intelligence, and the comedian himself plays the role of the outside reporter. Nevertheless, the claim that goats had exploded in Lebanon was adopted by many users.