In the context of the recent Iran-Israel conflict, a video has been circulated on social media claiming to show Iran’s attack on Israel.
Watch the video shared on Facebook under the claim here: Here (Archived), Here (Archived), Here (Archived), Here (Archived), and Here (Archived)
Fact-check
According to the Rumor Scanner team, the video does not depict a recent Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv, Israel, in the context of the Iran-Israel conflict. Instead, it shows footage of the 2003 U.S. attack on Baghdad during the Iraq War.
The investigation revealed, through reverse image searches of keyframes from the viral video, that it matches footage featured in a report published by Turkish news outlet ODATV on October 11, 2022, titled “Biden Condemned, 2003 Iraq Invasion Back in Discussion” (translated). The segment from 0:22 to 1:39 in that video is identical to the one circulating with the misleading claim.
That ODATV report stated that, in 2022, then-U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russian missile strikes on various locations in Ukraine, including Kyiv, in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. He also urged Russia to end the war quickly and withdraw its troops from Ukraine. In response, social media users recalled Biden’s past support for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, as he had been one of its most vocal proponents.
Further keyword searches led to another video of the same event from a different source, published on March 21, 2023, by the British media outlet ITN Archive on its YouTube channel, titled “Iraq War: Shock and Awe Assault on Baghdad Begins (2003)”.
Therefore, the viral video is not footage of a recent Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv, Israel.
Conclusion
A video showing a 2003 U.S. attack on Baghdad during the Iraq War is being falsely circulated as footage of Iran’s recent strike on Tel Aviv amid the Iran-Israel conflict. This claim is false.
