After multiple airstrikes targeted an airport in Yemen in December 2024, where Iran-backed Huthi rebels blamed Israel, a photo of smoke billowing from the runway went viral on social media falsely portraying it as showing the latest attack. It actually shows the airport in Sanaa damaged by an airstrike in April 2015.
“Report: Attacks on Sanaa and Hodeida in Yemen. It is believed to be an Israeli attack,” read the Thai-language X text published on December 26, 2024.
“Other attacks were reported in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and in Yemen’s port of Hodeida. Areas hit: Sana’a Airport, Kaziz Power Plant, and Hodeida Port base building.”
The post showed a photo of two planes on the runway, billowing black smoke into the sky.
Screenshot of X’s fake post, taken on January 3, 2025
The post shared that Sanaa airport and the nearby base of Al-Dailami were targeted along with a power station in Hodeida, in an attack the Huthis’ Al-Masirah TV channel called “Israeli aggression” (link saved).
The raid comes after a Houthi missile attack wounded 16 people in Israel’s main commercial city of Tel Aviv — prompting a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he had ordered the destruction of Houthi infrastructure.
The Houthis have fired a series of missiles and drones at Israel since the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023, seeking unity with the Palestinians.
The photo was also shared along with similar claims in posts written in Thai, English, Indonesian, Arabic and French.
Old photo
However, a reverse Google image search traced this image to an article published by the Yemen Press about Saudi-led airstrikes on Sanaa airport on April 28, 2015 (archived link).
The attack destroyed the runway and the plane, rendering the airport inoperable, the report said.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the fake X post (left) and the Yemen Press report (right):
Screenshot comparison between the fake X post (left) and the Yemen Press report (right)
A Saudi-led coalition destroyed a rebel-held runway in Sanaa after an Iranian jet “defied” a blockade of Yemeni airspace and its pilot rejected calls to land at a Saudi airport for a search, AFP report at that time (archived link).
A video shared by AFP on April 29, 2015 is accompanied by a viral photo shared and a false claim. It was found on Al-Masirah TV and titled: “Yemen: Sanaa’s runway destroyed”.
Screenshot of video released by AFP on April 29, 2015.
The conflict in the Middle East has caused a wave of disinformation that is often discredited by AFP.
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