Fact Check: Old video of a Russian missile malfunctioning falsely linked to Hezbollah in Lebanon
The video shows a malfunctioning Russian missile that backfired in 2022.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 9 Oct 2024 9:41 AM GMT
Claim: The video shows Hezbollah firing a malfunctioning missile that struck the launch pad instead of the target in Israel.
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows a malfunctioning Russian missile in the Ukrainian city of Alchevsk in 2022.
Hyderabad: Amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, as Israel intensifies its offensive in Lebanon to target Hezbollah, a viral video has emerged on social media. The accompanying claim suggests that it shows a missile, reportedly fired by Hezbollah, malfunctioning and boomeranging back to strike the launch pad instead of reaching its intended target in Israel.
An X user shared the video and wrote, āMiracle in Lebanon: The missile launched at Israel returns to its source and blows up the launch pad and 5 barbaric Islamist terrorists.ā (Archive)
Another X user shared the video and wrote, āWatch: Remember at the beginning of the war, the entire international media led by the liars at the BBC accused Israel of firing onto a Gaza hospital only to find out that an errant Hamas rocket misfired? Well, the very same thing just happened in Southern Lebanon but this time, it was caught on camera as a Hezbollah rocket misfired and reversed itself, taking out the launcher, the pad and the 5 terrorist scumbags who fired it. Karma indeed.ā (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows a malfunctioning Russian missile that backfired.
Upon conducting a reverse image search of the videoās keyframes, we found it on X, shared by a verified user Rob Lee, on June 24, 2022. The post stated that the footage reportedly depicts a failed missile launch from a Russian air defence system in Alchevsk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. (Archive)
After reviewing the comments on Rob Leeās post, we found a post with alleged satellite imagery of the burned site in Alchevsk, Luhansk Oblast. The post was made by Brady Africk, a senior media associate with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Foreign Policy.
āSatellite imagery from today shows a burned area at the site of a recent missile launch failure near Alchevsk, Luhansk Oblast.ā read the post. (Archive)
We also found the video published by The Telegraph and The Sun in June 2022. Both outlets reported that after launching, a Russian missile malfunctioned, reversed course and struck the launch site in the Ukrainian city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region.
We also found a detailed analysis of the viral video and similar ones made by Snopes, published on June 24, 2022. These reports confirm that the video is old and unrelated to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
