Claim: A video depicts a US airbase in Kuwait ablaze after a recent attack.
Fact: The footage circulating on social media shows the scenario after an explosion at Lourdes Fireworks Factory in Naxxar, Malta on 1 June 2026.
On 4 June 2026, Facebook user, ‘Pakistan News unofficial’ posted a reel, showing a deadly fire, on a Facebook group called ‘ARY News’. The caption implied it shows an attack by Iran at a US airbase, and stated:
کویت میں امریکی ایئر بیس کے مناظر
[Translation: Views of the US air base in Kuwait]
Screenshot from Facebook reel
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check started the verification process of the reel by using reverse-image searches to trace the original video.
News outlets like CNN, The Telegraph, and Times of Malta published the video in reports of a fire at a factory in Naxxar, Malta on 1 June 2026. The fire started around 6:30 am at the Lourdes Fireworks Factory on Triq il-Qadi, leaving two people injured and homes damaged miles away, according to local Maltese news outlets. Times of Malta added that the explosion was so loud it was registered as a 1.9 magnitude on the Richter scale as of 1 June 2026.
Soch Fact Check compared the reel shared in the claim to the videos published by CNN and Times of Malta. As outlined below, all three frames are identical and debunk the claim that the video is from Kuwait.
() (1)Screenshot of the ARY News post claiming to show a US airbase.
(2 & 3) Screenshots from the CNN and Times of Malta posts reporting on a factory fire.
Furthermore, Soch Fact Check observed the location shown in the video, particularly a specific sea-facing road. We used Google Street View which confirmed the location is 170 Dawret il-Qawra, which is located directly on the seafront promenade in Qawra, Malta (St. Paul’s Bay).
Comparison between a still from the viral video (right) and a still from the filming location in Malta from Google Maps (left)
Official reports state Kuwaiti military have intercepted “hostile aerial targets in the country’s airspace” but did not comment further. Moreover, in the month of June the Kuwaiti airport was a direct attack to an Iranian missile attack. But no direct attack has been reported to any US military bases in Kuwait in the month of June.
The video does not originate from Kuwait or show a US airbase on fire. News reports from credible outlets confirm that it shows a fire at a fireworks factory in Malta on 1 June 2026.
Virality
The claim was posted in a Pakistani group that calls itself “ARY News” and has 397.2 K members. The reel garnered significant interaction with 5.1 k views.
Among Facebook posts, the post with the most interaction gained 33k views.
The claim was also shared on X with the most popular post gaining 10K views.
Soch Fact Check has debunked several miscontextulized videos related to the ongoing Iran conflict. Many of these are found to be unrelated to the actual incident, contributing to spreading more misinformation.
Conclusion: The footage originates from Malta, and shows a fire at a fireworks factory in Naxxar where an explosion was reported on 1 June 2026.
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