Fact Check: US airbase in Riyadh attacked? No, video shows strikes on Yemen port
A video circulating online claims to show an Iranian attack on a US airbase in Saudi Arabia.
By - Rahul Adhikari
Claim:The video shows an Iranian attack on a US airbase in Riyadh.
Fact:False. The video shows Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in 2024.
Hyderabad: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was attacked by suspected Iranian drones, Reuters reported. The attack came amid ongoing Iranian strikes targeting US bases in the Middle East.
In this context, a video surfaced on social media claiming to show Iranian airstrikes on a US airbase in Riyadh. The viral clip shows a massive fire burning, with plumes of smoke rising into the sky, in what appears to be an open ground behind a cluster of buildings.
Several users shared the clip on Instagram, Facebook and X, making the same claim. (Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3)
One user on Instagram wrote, “Iran destroyed the US airbase in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, Iran did launch missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The attack code-named Operation Fateh Khaibe.” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. A video showing an Israeli attack on a Yemeni port in 2024 was falsely circulated as a recent Iranian attack on Riyadh.
Analysis of the video
We divided the video into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. We found that the original version of the viral clip was published on YouTube by a purported media outlet named Rassd News Network. The Arabic video title, when translated, reads that the video shows a massive fire following the Israeli bombing of Hodeidah port in Yemen on July 20, 2024
Further research led us to another YouTube video uploaded in July 2024 showing several clips of the Israeli attack on the city of Hodeidah, which also included the viral clip.
The information in the YouTube videos hinted that the viral video may not be related to the ongoing US-Iran tensions.
What did the media report?
According to a BBC report dated July 21, 2024, Israel struck the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen after the Houthi group launched a drone attack that hit Tel Aviv.
Al Jazeera, too, on the same day, reported that three people were killed and 87 wounded, many with severe burns, due to the Israeli strikes. The death toll later rose to six.
