Claim: A video shows Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Haifa, Israel amid the ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran.
Fact: The video predates the ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel; it likely shows an Israeli strike in Damascus, Syria from July 2025.
On 28 February, a Facebook user posted a video apparently showing Iran’s attack on the Israeli city of Haifa during the ongoing war. Here is the screenshot of the post:
Screenshot of the post claiming a video showed Iran’s retaliatory strike on Israel in Haifa.
It was also shared on X here.
Iranian retaliatory missiles launched at Israel were reportedly intercepted, including those over Haifa on 28 February.
As the war entered its third week in mid-March, Iran also struck an oil refinery in Haifa.
Therefore, this article only fact-checks the video circulating online.
US-Israel war with Iran
The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, targeting multiple sites on 28 February. The strikes killed former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials and military figures. Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader.
In response, Iran launched multiple strikes on Israel and Gulf states, including Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and others, some of which host US bases in the region. Since it began, Iran retaliated to the attacks by closing the Strait of Hormuz — an important maritime passageway through which approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply transits — disrupting the global oil supply. Oil prices have soared since the closure of the passageway.
At least 1,568 people have been killed in Iran as of 29 March, including approximately 236 children, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Notably, a strike on a girl’s school in Minab, Iran, killed 168 people, most of them children, on 28 February.
Growing evidence and investigations by Bellingcat, CNN, The New York Times suggest that the US is responsible for targeting an area where an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base is located, adjacent to a girl’s school in Minab, Iran. A video released on 8 March by the Mehr News Agency — reviewed by the aforementioned news organisations — revealed that the school was probably hit some time before the IRGC facility. The clip shows smoke already rising from the school before a US Tomahawk missile struck the IRGC facility.
At least 13 US service members have also been killed.
According to the BBC: “As of 29 March, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service (MDA) said 19 people had been killed by [Iranian] missile fire since the start of the war.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it is old, and hence unrelated to the current war.
A Facebook account titled [roughly translated via Google], “Germany News,” posted the same footage on 16 July 2025 with the following description [Translation from Arabic via Google]: “The moment the Syrian General Staff building in the heart of the capital Damascus was targeted by Israeli aircraft.”
On the left is a video circulating amid the Iran war. On the right is the same clip from July 2025.
Several Facebook accounts posted the same clip on 16 July 2025 with captions linking it to an Israeli bombing in Syria.
The footage also appeared on Instagram on 16 July 2025 with a caption linking it to Damascus.
A YouTube channel “Harian Metro” posted a video report on 17 July 2025, titled [Translated from Malay into English]: “Anwar condemns Israeli airstrikes on Damascus”. The first nine seconds of the clip are similar to the footage being fact-checked, confirming it is unrelated to the ongoing war.
Back then, Israel conducted airstrikes, claiming it hit near the entrance of the Syrian Ministry of Defence in the country’s capital city of Damascus.
Geolocating this footage reveals it was shot from the “البوابات السبع” or roughly translated via Google, “The Seven Gates” hotel in Syria, point of view approximately at 33.512851, 36.273501, as shown below, confirming the footage is from Damascus, Syria:
On the left are features highlighted from the footage that match satellite imagery from Google Maps.
Soch Fact Check thus rates the claim as false.
Virality
The clip was shared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
It was also shared on X here and here.
Conclusion: The video is unrelated to the current war. It appeared online on 16 July 2025 and likely shows an Israeli strike inside Damascus.
Background image in cover photo: Trends Research and Advisory
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