By: Soham Shah
April 16 2024
No, this video does not show Hezbollah's recent aerial attack against Israel
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An X post claiming the video shows Hezbollah’s attack on Israel. (Source:X/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The video was uploaded to YouTube in October 2021, and according to an individual who claims to be the creator, it is an animated simulation of WW II.
Claim ID f0728bf6
What is the claim?
A 15-second clip showing fighter planes being attacked by air defense missiles against a red-lit background has been shared on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube, with the claim that it shows Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah attacking Israel with missiles. The sound of a loud siren can also be heard in the clip. One post sharing the clip was captioned, “HEZBOLLAH MASSIVE ATTACK Dozens of missiles were launched from southern Lebanon towards Galilee and Golan (sic).” Archived versions of such posts can be viewed here and here.
Posts claiming the video shows Hezbollah’s attack on Israel. (Source:X, Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)
This video and the viral claims are being shared after Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Israel on April 13 in retaliation to a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Hezbollah also launched rockets at Israel in tandem with the overnight Iranian attack. Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Hamas, and Israel have been exchanging fire since the conflict began on October 7, 2023.
However, we found that this viral video was uploaded to YouTube as early as 2021. According to the individual claiming to be the creator, it is an animated video intended to simulate World War II (WW2).
What is the truth?
While many social media users seemed to believe that the viral video shows the recent Hezbollah rocket attack on Israel, we found comments on some viral posts in which others pointed out that it is an old CGI (computer-generated imagery) video or a clip from a video game.
Taking a cue from this, we used a combination of reverse image and Google search and came across an extended version of the viral clip that was posted on YouTube on October 21, 2021, by the verified channel ‘Borisao Blois.’ The title of this video, translated from Spanish, read: “Do you want to know how it felt to be in the SECOND WORLD WAR? This is for you…”
The first 15 seconds of this YouTube video show the viral clip with a red-lit sky and fighter planes being attacked. The following visuals portray animation clips of World War II planes being attacked in different locations.
The description of the YouTube video mentions that this video is a compilation of the creator’s animation related to World War II. “I will try to bring animations that are further removed from aerial combat because it is quite evident that they have been the protagonists,” the rest of the description said.
The YouTube page has over 1.4 million subscribers and posts several videos created using animation. Further, a translation of the ‘About’ section of the channel says, “I am a 21-year-old boy who wants to make stories, with the weapon of animation in his hands.” It also suggests that these animations are made using Blender, an open-source 3D computer graphics software toolset for creating animated videos.
The viral video was also posted on the Instagram page ‘borisao_blois’, which is associated with this channel.
Here, too, the caption noted the use of CGI in the video. The Instagram post was shared on October 8, 2021.
Logically Facts has reached out to Borisao Blois for more information on the video. This story will be updated if and when we receive a response.
We could not independently confirm whether the viral video in question is an animated video, but it is clear that the video has no connection to the current conflict. Further, it doesn’t show the Hezbollah attack on Israel, since the video has been online since 2021, much before Iran and Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel recently.
While Hezbollah said in a statement on April 13 that it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at “enemy artillery positions” in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, the viral visuals claiming to show the attack by the group are more than two years old. According to reports, the barrage of rockets and drones triggered sirens across Upper Galilee in northern Israel, and air defense missiles were engaged against the attack.
The verdict
The viral video has been available online since October 2021, predating the recent April 13 Hezbollah attack on Israel. Further, the individual who claims to be the creator of the video has said that it is an animation clip. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.
