Video claiming to show Iranian attack on Tel Aviv is from Ukraine

Video dates back to late March

Apr 08, 2024

CLAIM

A video posted on various social media platforms depicting explosions in an urban area purports to show a missile attack by Iran on Tel Aviv.

BACKGROUND

On April 5, videos began to emerge across social media claiming to show explosions caused by an Iranian missile attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

The 10-second clip was posted as a ‘breaking news’ alert on X with the caption: “#Iran has started to attack israeli occupied #TelAviv with heavy missiles; fires of hell are burning, several buildings destroyed.” The account describes itself in its bio as being a place to find “breaking news alerts from India” and posts mainly in Hindi.

The clip was later shared by other accounts on X on April 5 and on Facebook on April 7, carrying the same claims in the captions.

Theories about Iran’s broader involvement in the war have swirled since the event that triggered Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave Gaza: the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. The Wall Street Journal cited “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah” as saying Iranian security officials helped plan that attack, although Iran’s foreign ministry has denied involvement and Israel has said there is no concrete evidence that Iran was directly involved.

Last week, an Israeli strike targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing several people including a top commander.

METHOD

A reverse image search on frames of the clip brought us to a number of news sources that published longer versions of the video in late March along with articles about a Ukrainian strike on Russian warships and naval facilities in Sevastopol, Crimea.

The Telegraph, a British national newspaper, published a 1:14-minute version of the video, which includes the 10-second clip seen above, on March 24, with the headline: “Huge explosions rock Sevastopol after Ukrainian missile attack.”

A Ukrainian military spokesperson is quoted in several news reports as saying: “The Defence Forces have successfully hit the Yamal and Azov landing ships, a communications centre and several infrastructure facilities belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.”

CNN reported that video showing fireballs lighting up the sky and thick smoke rising during the same attack was posted on local Telegram channels.

The Sun newspaper also published the video on its website along with a report about how two Russian warships were hit in the Ukrainian strike on Crimea.

From this analysis, we can conclude that the video is older than claimed and actually shows a strike carried out in another war, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, on the night of March 23-24, 2024.

RATING

This video dates to March 2024 and is not connected to Israel or Iran.

SOURCES

X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: B R E A K I N G A L E R T – #Iran has started to attack israeli occupied #TelAviv with heavy missiles; fires of hell are burning, several buildings destroyed. [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].

X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: B R E A K I N G A L E R T – Iran has started to attack israeli occupied TelAviv with heavy missiles; fires of hell are burning, several buildings destroyed. Unverified Source❗️ Is This Real ? [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].

Facebook.com. (2023). Htoo Htoo Naing – B R E A K I G A L E R T – Iran has started to… [online] Available at: here [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].

Aliki Kraterou and Stewart, W. (2024). Moment Ukraine unleashes hell on Putin’s battleships in war-torn city as £80million spy vessel is hit by tw… [online] The US Sun. Available at: https://www.the-sun.com/news/10878805/moment-putins-spy-ship-blown-up-missile-strike/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].

The Telegraph (2024). YouTube. Available at: Huge explosions rock Sevastopol after Ukrainian missile attack. [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].

Andrew Carey, Maria Kostenko and Josh Pennington, CNN (2024). Available at: Ukraine says it hit two Russian naval vessels in major attack on Crimea. [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024]

X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Sevastopol, multiple Ukrainian Storm Shadow cruise missile slam into a Russian target [Accessed 8 Apr. 2024].