Video Shows Gas Station Explosion In Yemen, Not Attack On Israel

<span>Screen capture from an X-post taken on October 2, 2024</span>” data-src=”https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/50348c6278e3d78251a07bae0b17d365″/><span></div>
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Screenshot from an X-post taken on October 2, 2024

Similar reports claiming the video shows an airstrike has circulated Arabic, French And Spanish.

Fear one broader regional fire in the Middle East rose as Israel shifted its focus last month from the war in Gaza, which broke out after Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, to securing its northern border with Lebanon, where it faces the Iran-backed Hezbollah .

Iran launched about 200 missiles after Israel announced the start of ground operations in southern Lebanon, sending fearful Israeli civilians into shelters. Israel claimed it had intercepted most of the rockets, while medics reported that two people were injured by shrapnel.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard said The strike was in retaliation for the September 27 killing of Nasrallah, in addition to that of a General of the Guard’s Quds Force, and for the July killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

But The video spreading online is unrelated and shows an explosion at a gas station in the southern Yemeni governorate Aden.

Reverse image And search by keywords exposed several August international media reports about the incidentmany of which contain the same video shared online (archived here, here And here).

“The explosion took place on Al-Taseen Street in Mansoura district, after a fire at the gas station,” the Turkish news agency said. Anadolu reported August 31 (archived here).

Al Jazeera also shared the video August 30 on YouTube with an Arabic title saying: “Explosion at a gas station in Aden, Yemen” (archived here).

<span>Screenshots taken on October 2, 2024 of the video published by Al Jazeera (L) and the clip spreading on social media, with elements highlighted by AFP</span>” data-src=”https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/e6a0d0868c1f99703749cf7ce732b384″/><span><button class= — Screenshots taken on October 2, 2024 of the video published by Al Jazeera (L) and the clip spreading on social media, with elements highlighted by AFP

AFP photographers captured images of the aftermath of the explosion.

<span>A member of the Yemeni security forces walks towards an area damaged by a gas explosion in the city of Mansoura, near Aden, on August 31, 2024</span></p>
<div><span>Saleh Al-OBEIDI</span>< span>AFP</span></div>
<p>” data-src=”https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/398bc2dd2cbf1b75ad84cadf432c9176″/><span><button class= — A member of the Yemeni security forces walks towards an area damaged by a gas explosion in the city of Mansoura near Aden on August 31, 2024

Saleh Al-OBEIDIAFP

<span>People gather near a workshop damaged by a gas explosion in the town of Mansoura, near Aden on August 31, 2024</span></p>
<div><span>Saleh Al-OBEIDI</span><span>AFP</span ></div>
<p>” data-src=”https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/f339771ed262c1cc2d2fa52a62538b14″/><span><button class= — People gather at a workshop damaged by a gas explosion in the town of Mansoura near Aden on August 31, 2024

Saleh Al-OBEIDIAFP

Several Yemeni media sockets reported that the gas station was operating without a permit and therefore did not meet the safety requirements (archived here, here And here). After the incident, A government research found 77 of the 122 gas stations in Aden were operating illegally (archived here And here).

AFP has debunked other disinformation related to the Israel-Hamas conflict here.