Old content misrepresented as U.S., UK strikes in Yemen
The images and video are old and date back to 2022.
BACKGROUND
The U.S. and UK struck facilities in Yemen on Thursday, January 11, used by the Houthi military to attack ships in the Red Sea, authorities from both countries said.
The White House confirmed in a statement that U.S. military forces, together with the UK, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, had successfully conducted strikes against targets in Yemen used by Houthis.
“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea”, the White House said in a statement.
Following the strikes, images emerged on social media purporting to show the immediate aftermath of a strike in Yemen, showing an alleged explosion following a missile strike by a warplane.
One social media user, who described themselves as a social media influencer based in Sana’a, shared several pieces of content, including video and images purporting to show the strikes on Thursday.
METHOD
Looking at the account’s digital footprint, we can see that it was created in January 2024, with the user specifying that they are based in Sana’a, Yemen.
The profile image used on the account is of Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi, also known as Abu Jibril, a Yemeni politician and religious leader who serves as the leader of the Houthi movement.
Performing a Google reverse image search on the first image shared by the account brings us to a news report from January 26, 2022, by the Taghrib News Agency, where the same image is used to illustrate that the “Saudi coalition” launched the heaviest air strikes on the various parts of the Yemeni capital.
A reverse image search on the second photo shared by the account brings us to a news report by Reuters, where the image is described as showing “a view of a fire at Saudi Aramco’s petroleum storage facility after an attack in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 25, 2022.”
Analysis of the video shared, purporting to show strikes on Yemen from a warship, brings us to a Russian Ministry of Defence video, which shows Russian forces launching missiles at Ukraine in March of 2022.
From this, we can conclude that the content shared by the social media user is not related to strikes in Yemen on January 11, 2024
RATING
The videos and images purporting to show strikes on Yemen on January 11, 2024, are being misrepresented. The content is from 2022.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: https://twitter.com/jundi_allah00/status/1745621398733676978 [Accessed January 12 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: https://twitter.com/jundi_allah00/status/1745626929120616634 [Accessed January 12 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: https://twitter.com/jundi_allah00/status/1745627216556249368 [Accessed January 12 2024].
Wikipedia Contributors (2024). Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-Malik_al-Houthi [Accessed January 12 2024].
Taghrib News Agency (2022). الأعنف… اليمن: 20 غارة جوية للتحالف على صنعاء ومحيطها | وكالة أنباء التقريب (TNA). [online] وكالة أنباء التقريب (TNA). Available at: https://www.taghribnews.com/ar/news/535988 [Accessed January 12 2024].
Aziz Yaakoubi and Dahan, M. (2022). Saudi Aramco petroleum storage site hit by Houthi attack, fire erupts. [online] Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-air-defences-destroy-houthi-drones-state-tv-2022-03-25/ [Accessed January 12 2024].
Arash Arabasadi (2022). Russia Batters Neighbor as Monthlong War in Ukraine Continues. [online] Voice of America. Available at: https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-batters-neighbor-as-monthlong-war-in-ukraine-continues/6503783.html [Accessed January 12 2024].
Thx!