Does this photo show Hamas taking 40 Israeli soldiers as hostages in the Hamas-Israel conflict in the fall of 2023? No, that's not true: The photo is from 2022 and shows Hamas fighters training at a facility in the Gaza Strip with people in Israel Defense Forces uniforms. However, they are not real Israeli soldiers but instead are part of…

Does a video show the grand mufti of the United Arab Emirates reciting Quranic verses dedicated to the souls of Israeli soldiers whom he describes as martyrs? No, that's not true: The video, from May 2022, shows the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, not the grand mufti of UAE, reciting from the Quran to…

Did protesters burn down the Israeli Embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman? No, that's not true: Lead Stories toured the vicinity of the embassy in Amman's middle-class al-Rabiyeh district on November 12, 2023, and found it to be intact. A Jordanian security official told Lead Stories that riot police set up barricades and fired tear gas, preventing hundreds of angry…

Did Hamas militants shoot down an Israeli Air Force (IAF) plane in the Gaza Strip? No, that's not true: The footage used on social media to make the claim displays a greyish military aircraft, almost intact, atop the roof of a dilapidated one-story brick and cement building in China's Lenghu, also known as the oil town. The desolate location is…

Does a video on social media show a mosque being bombed by Israel in October 2023? No, that's not true: The footage predates the Hamas-Israel conflict, and shows the Islamic State bombing of the Uwais al-Qarni Mosque in Raqqa, Syria, in 2014. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by @user4305266923337 on October 18, 2023. The…

Does a video of the Al-Aqsa Islamic religious complex show chanting crowds who had gathered in Jerusalem on the day of the Hamas attacks, October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The video was originally posted on Facebook on April 17, 2023, during the observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The audio track of that video, which originally…

Did Israel bomb the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam? No, that's not true: Reverse photo searches show the photo circulating online that claims to show damage to the Al-Aqsa Mosque actually shows a damaged mosque in Gaza. No credible news outlet has repeated the claim about Al-Aqsa and The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious…

Does video show Egyptian army soldiers entering Palestinian territory or being deployed to the border between Egypt, Gaza and Israel? No, that's not true. The video is old and it shows Yemeni army soldiers marching in Marib, Yemen. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok by @mnbmnb741 on October 8, 2023, with a…

Did Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, threaten Syrian refugees in Turkey with the revocation of their citizenship if they did not return to Syria in six months? No, that's not true. There is no evidence that the Syrian president made such a statement. In fact, in his recent interview with Sky News Arabia, Assad claimed that less than half a…

Did Vladimir Putin and American billionaire businessman Elon Musk exchange threats on September 14, 2023, when the Russian president warned that he would destroy internet cables in the Black Sea if Musk cut off Russia's cyberspace? No, that's not true. In Fact, Putin heaped praise on Musk in a speech to the plenary session of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum…

Is Russia responsible for the July 26, 2023, coup in Niger, as a tactic to negotiate on its war in Ukraine with the United States and Europe? No, that's unconfirmed: Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on August 1, 2023, that Russia incited the junta to oust and detain Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum and his family,…

Did U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promise to bring the banned Baath party back to power in Iraq? No, that's not true: The video from a press conference in the Iraqi Kurdistan region with Austin uses a fabricated Arabic-language translation to make the false claim. That is not what Austin said. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published…

Did former German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht say that her country cannot shield itself against a Russian attack and is also unable to defend its NATO allies? No, that's not true. Until she resigned from her post as defense minister in January 2023, Lambrecht did not make such a comment. According to Germany's Federal Ministry of Defense, Lambrecht said while…

Did the revolting Russian mercenaries, known as the Wagner fighters, reach the Russian capital, Moscow? No, that's not true. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and founder of the Wagner army that launched the armed mutiny on June 24, 2023, said his men reached within 125 miles (200 km) of the capital but turned back, according…

Did Russia announce "The Great Northern Battle" against the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Northern Syria? No, that's not true: Russia has not started a military campaign with the Syrian army to take back the northwest regions from the Turkish-backed FSA. In fact, Russia recently announced that both Ankara and Damascus have agreed to normalize their relations and resolve…

Was Ankara, the capital of Turkey, recently bombarded by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)? No, that's not true. Ankara was not bombarded, but on June, 10, 2023, there was a blast in a rocket and explosives factory in the city, that led to the death of five workers. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by…

Did US Senate approve the annexation of Aleppo to Turkey? No, that's not true. There is no record of such a decision from the US Senate. Aleppo is internationally recognised as part of the Syrian territories. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok by @akeraleakar on June 2, 2023 under the title "Aleppo…

Did Russian forces withdraw from positions they've held in the Syrian city of Til Rifaat? No, that's not true. Local Syrian press accounts say the Russian forces are performing regular movements around the strategic city in North West Syria and there are no signs they will depart and allow Turkish forces in the area to sieze the city. The claim…

Did Egypt join the Ukraine Defense Contact Group of nations supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia? No, that's not true. Egypt remains neutral regarding the Russia-Ukraine war and it has not announced plans to join the group of nations. There have been no official statements from Egyptian President Sisi indicating any alteration in the country's stance of neutrality concerning…

Were 35% of the votes cast for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential and parliamentary elections, by Syrians? No, that's not true: The number of Syrians eligible to vote in the 2023 polls in Turkey was much smaller than the 35% of votes cast for Erdogan. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published…