On Friday, June 13, Israel launched an attack targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. In response, Iran launched counter missile strikes on Israel. Amid this situation, a video showing a structure on fire has been circulated on social media, with claims that the footage is from Israel.
See the discussed posts shared on Facebook here (archive) and here (archive).
Fact Check
Rumor Scanner’s investigation revealed that the circulated video is not from the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, nor is it from Israel. In fact, the video was filmed during a fire at the Casino Park in Culiacán, Mexico, on January 16.
Running a reverse image search using several keyframes from the circulated video leads to a report titled “Unbelievably tiny cause of massive explosion that blew apart casino revealed”, published on January 17 by UK-based news outlet Daily Mail. That article includes a video and several images that match the visuals in the circulated footage.
The report states: “A short circuit was the cause of a fire that destroyed a casino and an indoor children’s park in western Mexico — according to authorities in Sinaloa state. … The fire broke out shortly after 11 AM local time on Thursday, January 16, and was brought under control within two hours. A total of 88 personnel from Culiacán’s fire department, Red Cross, and civil defense were involved in extinguishing the blaze, using 500,000 liters of water.”
Additionally, a report was found on the website of Mexico-based news outlet El Heraldo de México, titled “Revelan causa del incendio de Casino en Culiacán”, published on January 16. It states: “On the afternoon of Thursday, January 16, a massive fire broke out at the Cinépolis Plaza in Culiacán. The fire mainly affected the structures of the Royal Casino Park and the Trampoline Park. The incident occurred on Pedro Infante Boulevard, just a few blocks from the state congress building.”
Further confirmation comes from multiple other news outlets, all verifying that the video in question is from Mexico.
Conclusion
The footage of the fire at Casino Park in Culiacán, Mexico, from January has been falsely circulated recently as a fire at an Israeli facility. This claim is false.
Sources
- Daily Mail – Unbelievably tiny cause of massive explosion that blew apart casino revealed
- El Heraldo De México – Revelan causa del incendio de Casino en Culiacán
