Claim: A video shows a drone launched by Iran towards Israel stuck in overhead power lines in Iraq.
Fact: The video predates Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel. It could show a drone crash in Deir al-Zour, Syria, from February 2024, according to some social media posts.
On 15 April 2024, Facebook user Ekta Divya Pandey shared a reel claiming that it shows a drone launched by Iran towards Israel that got stuck in electrical power lines in Iraq.
Iran-Israel conflict
On 14 April 2024, Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel in retaliation to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which took place on 1 April. Marking a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries, Iran’s first direct attack on Israel involved over 300 projectiles, including drones and ballistic missiles, targetting the Nevatim air base in southern Israel. Despite the scale of the assault, Israeli defence systems claim to have intercepted “99%” of the projectiles.
According to the Iranian Student News Agency, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi stated on 16 April that his country would retaliate against any actions that threaten its interests. This statement comes following Israel’s warning of a response to Tehran’s recent drone and missile attack over the weekend.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be misleading. A reverse-image search of keyframes of the video led us to a post on X (formerly Twitter) from 21 February 2024, carrying two visuals from the viral video. The tweet by @timtams83 is captioned, “An unidentified drone crashes into electric cables in the town of Qamar al-Din in the Hasakah countryside.” Based on key indicators, we ascertained that these stills and the viral video show the same drone.
Some other users also shared the same video in February 2024, including here and here on X, stating that a drone crashed into electrical and communications lines in the village of Qamar Aldin near the town of Abu Khashab in northwestern Hasakah province of Syria. X user @shahokurdy also shared the video in a post dating back to 29 February 2024, which confirms that the footage predates Iran’s retaliatory attack.
While Soch Fact Check could not ascertain exactly where the drone lands in the video or the context of the drone getting stuck in power cables, we can confirm that the video was shared on social media as early as February 2024 and, therefore, is not related to the recent Israel-Iran escalation.
Virality:
The claim can be found here, here, here and here on Facebook.
It was posted here, here, here, here, here and here on X.
The post by @Incognito_qfs gained significant traction with 1.2 million views, 11,600 likes and 1,843 reposts.
Conclusion: Contrary to claims, the viral video does not show a drone launched by Iran towards Israel landing in Iraq. It is unrelated to Iran’s recent retaliatory attack on Israel as the video was shared on social media as early as February 2024, and likely depicts a drone crash in Syria.
Background image in cover: Reuters
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