Did Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa flee his country to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2024, alarmed by mass pro-Yemen protests and a possible coup attempt in his Gulf Arab nation? No, that's not true: The state-run Bahrain News Agency (BNA) showed the monarch hosting young Bahraini athletes at one of his royal palaces in the…

Did Yemen recently display North Korea-made BM-25 Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles for use against the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel? No, that's not true: Yemen is not believed to have any Musudans. Moreover, a still image used in the video on social media to support this claim was taken at a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in…

Does a video on TikTok show an American ship in the Red Sea being attacked by the Houthis in January 2024? No, that's not true: The video shows the burning U.S. naval ship USS Bonhomme Richard at the naval base in San Diego in 2020. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @mohamad.odeh.1 on January 10,…

Does this video show Iran's ballistic missile attack on the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, on January 15, 2024? No, that's not true: The video is from 2022, and shows the American C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery and mortar system) responding to a missile attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on January 13, 2022. Although the attacks on January…

Does this video on TikTok portray a U.S. official acting as a spokesperson and announcing a second chance for the Ba'ath Party in Iraq to participate in politics? No, that's not true: The person in the video is U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, speaking at President Joe Biden's inauguration. The original video focuses solely on the official announcement of Biden as…

Did an explosion in Haifa on January 14, 2024, stem from a Yemeni missile targeting an Israeli refinery in response to a U.S. airstrike on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen? No, that's not true. According to the Israeli government and media reports, the explosion that generated a mushroom of black smoke over the Haifa Bay area was attributed to a…

Is it true that the Secret Service jumped onto the stage to protect former President Donald Trump when a man in the audience shouted "Allah Akbar"? No, that's not true: The post making this claim uses a 2016 video of the incident with manipulated audio. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on January 10, 2024, with…

Is former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein alive in a U.S. jail from which he will be released on January 17, 2024? No, that's not true: Saddam was hanged on December 30, 2006, in the presence of multiple witnesses after an Iraqi court found him guilty of crimes against humanity. Footage of his hanging was widely shared at the time, and…

Does a video on TikTok show Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking and setting on fire a U.S. warship in the Red Sea in early January 2024? No, that's not true: The footage depicts a past attack by the Houthis more than seven years ago. The post used a 2016 video to inaccurately portray it as a current event. The claim…

Were Israel's neighbors, including Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Gaza Strip simultaneously launching 2,000 missiles at Israel on January 3, 2024? No, that's not true: There are no credible reports of simultaneous attacks from these areas on Israel. There have been separate attacks: Since the onset of the Hamas-Israel conflict on October 7, 2023, there have been numerous rocket attacks…

Is Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, alive? No, that's not true: The video used in the post is from a February 2, 2003 interview and it shows the Iraqi leader speaking to British politician Tony Benn before the U.S.-led invasion that toppled his government. The late Iraqi leader was hanged to death on December 30, 2006, following his…

Does a TikTok video depict Yemen declaring ownership of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets? No, that's not true: The video captures an air demonstration squadron by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds at the 2022 Aviation Nation airshow at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yemen neither possesses Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets nor has it officially declared ownership…

Did Italian football players paint red marks on their faces in solidarity with Reem Nabhan, a 3-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in a November 24, 2023, Israeli airstrike that flattened her Gaza home? No, that's not true: Players and coaches across Italy's Serie A-League men's football teams smeared red paint onto their faces to show support for a campaign…

Was a group of rabbis, politicians, diplomats and Israeli businessmen arrested in the United States for trafficking in the organs of Palestinian children? No, that's not true: The video making the claim is dated July 23, 2009, and shows political and religious figures, including rabbis, who were arrested in New Jersey on charges of money laundering. There is no evidence…

Did Gershon HaCohen die in an ambush during the Hamas-Israel conflict that began on October 7, 2023, and was he the commander of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations on the Western Front in Gaza at the time? No, that's not true: HaCohen retired from the IDF in 2014 and is currently not serving in the army. The claim appeared in…

Does a video on TikTok depict protesters throwing Zara clothes into the street in protest of a controversial ad campaign that supposedly disrespects Palestinian deaths? No, that's not true: The video is unrelated to the Hamas-Israel conflict and the devastation in the Gaza Strip. It's part of a campaign by Vestiaire Collective named "Think First, Buy Second," which aims to…

Was the Israeli national anthem, "Hatikva," sung jointly by Israeli and Arab singers at a ceremony hosted by the Israeli Embassy in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023? No, that's not true: The footage used to validate the claim was originally posted in May 2023, thus predating by months the Hamas-Israel conflict, which erupted on October 7, 2023. The…

Did Israel pump seawater into Hamas militants' underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip in the first 10 days of December 2023, resulting in a train being washed away between the Israeli cities Sderot and Ashkelon? No, that's not true: The footage used to back up the claim was taken during the flood that swept across New Jersey in September 2021.…

Does a video show an Israeli sniper captured alive by Hamas militants during the Hamas-Israel conflict that erupted on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The video was published on TikTok on June 10, 2023, months before the Hamas-Israel conflict with a caption indicating that it shows a U.S. Marine sleeping on the ground during training. The claim appeared…

Does a video show President Joe Biden announcing the withdrawal of U.S. forces and support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Yemeni forces destroyed a U.S. naval fleet in the Red Sea? No, that's not true: The video is from a Biden news conference in 2021 and has nothing to do with current events in the region. There is…