Video of Crimea explosion shared as Iranian attack on Tel Aviv
The video does not show an Iranian bombing of Tel Aviv in April 2024
(Ruters) - A video showing an explosion in the Crimean port of Sevastopol in March was falsely described online in April as showing an Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv in Israel.
The social media posts sharing the clip predate Iran’s April 13 drone and missile attack on Israel , which was seen as retaliation over a suspected Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1.
One April 4 post sharing the miscaptioned Crimea video said: “And, there it is. Expected after the CIA report. Iran has started to attack Israeli occupied Tel Aviv with heavy missiles; fires of hell are burning, several buildings destroyed.”
The clip, which was shot at night, shows a fiery explosion. Loud bangs can be heard in the background.
The same video continues to be shared on social media following Iran’s April 13 drone and missile attack against Israel, captioned as showing, opens new tab the “aftermath” of the strikes.
However, the video was shot over the Crimean port of Sevastopol and dates to late March 2024.
The same scenes appear in videos used in media reports on March 23 and March 24 by The Telegraph, opens new tab , Infobae, opens new tab and Ukrainska Pravda, opens new tab describing the March 23 attack in Sevastopol.
Russian air defence systems shot down more than 10 missiles over Sevastopol on that date, Reuters reported, citing a Russian-installed official.
The footage published by The Telegraph with credit to an X account pans to the right at timestamp 00:58, showing a mid-air blast and several structures along a street.
The structures are located on the Nikolaya Muzyki Street in Sevastopol, as seen in a comparison, opens new tab of a frame from the clip and satellite imagery of the location on Yandex Maps, opens new tab .
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The video does not show an Iranian bombing of Tel Aviv in April 2024.
