An old video of an Israeli strike in Lebanon was falsely shared as showing the aftermath of the Houthis’ September 2026 attack on Riyadh. AFP traced the footage to reports published in October 2025, nearly a year before the attack.
The 19-second clip shows a nighttime explosion. AFP matched frames to Al Jazeera coverage published on October 17, 2025, which identified explosions in southern and eastern Lebanon as Israeli airstrikes. Anadolu and BBC Arabic also published the footage as showing Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
The Houthis said they had targeted “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Residents reported explosions, smoke and flames near King Khalid International Airport, and an AFP journalist saw firefighters extinguish a blaze on an Aramco-branded tank at a nearby depot.
