Saudi Arabia strike video falsely linked to US in Yemen
Video claiming to show recent U.S. strikes in Yemen dates back to March 2022
CLAIM
A video circulating on social media purporting to show recent U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen dates back to a 2022 Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia.
BACKGROUND
Dozens of people were killed in a wave of strikes by U.S. forces that started on Saturday, March 15, against targets of the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen.
The group said at least 53 people, including children, died in the attacks, vowing to retaliate.
U.S. attacks were launched after Houthi rebels threatened to resume strikes against shipping in the Red Sea if Israel did not lift its blockade on aid and fuel for the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the assault, warning the Yemeni group that if the Red Sea attacks did not stop, “hell will rain down upon you”.
A Houthi spokesperson said on Monday that the group had launched attacks aimed at the U.S. aircraft carrier Harry Truman and other ships, using missiles and a drone.
According to the rebel group, targets in Yemen’s Al Jouf and Hodeidah areas were hit on Monday, as the U.S. military said its operation was underway.
A video started being reshared on social media on Monday, with captions describing it as showing additional attacks in Yemen.
This account, which has reshared several unverified claims on X, posted the video on Monday, saying, “During the night, there were reports of additional American attacks carried out on the port city of Hodeidah and on a government center in the Al-Jawf district north of Tanaat.”
The same video was also posted by the X account OSINTWarfare, which describes itself as an open-source intelligence account on war, with a caption: “Footage of a U.S. airstrike targeting the Hudaydah port, Western Yemen
An independent Afghan news outlet, Safir TV, published an article reporting on the U.S. attacks in Yemen, with a screengrab of the same video.
This video has also been reshared on different occasions, including more recently, purporting to show a Houthi attack on the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah in February 2025.
The X account Adasa Masr, which reshares news from Egypt, posted the video, saying an explosion took place in Jeddah amid reports of drones launched by Houthis on February 13, 2025.
METHOD
The video was analysed through Google Lens and InVID searches, with results pointing to a video posted on the YouTube page of the Syrian TV channel Orient on March 25, 2022.
The 2022 publication reported on the fire at an Aramco oil facility in Jeddah sparked by a Houthi shelling attack. Aramco is the state-owned petroleum and natural gas company in Saudi Arabia.
Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack in March 2022, days before a Formula One race was due to take place in Jeddah.
A large blaze broke out at the oil depot, with several videos posted at the time showing scenes corresponding to distinctive features of the oil plant, including large round tanks.
The version of the video reshared this March is shorter and of much lower quality, with images of the wider scene cropped from the footage.
RATING
The video claiming to show recent U.S. strikes in Yemen dates back to March 2022, at the time reported as showing a fire sparked by a Houthi attack on an oil depot in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: @Monika_is_His [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: OSINTWarfare [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025]
Safir TV (2025). Available at The US aggression against Yemen increased the number of martyrs to 53 people [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025]
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: AdasaMasr [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025]
YouTube (2022). Available at Orient News [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025]
The Guardian (2022). Available at Fire breaks out at Jeddah oil depot before Saudi Arabia grand prix [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025]