
An investigation reveals the truth about video clips circulating about the fuel crisis in Iraq
AI-generated summary
Iraq witnessed a fuel shortage crisis recently, coinciding with statements about the potential effects of the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Last May, Iraq began exporting crude oil to Syria through the Rabia-Al-Yarubiyah port.
Social media accounts circulated a video clip claiming to show scenes of the arrival of tankers loaded with fuel from Syria to Iraq, coinciding with the fuel shortage crisis in the country.
The video, which has received more than two million views on the X platform, shows a large convoy of fuel trucks driving on a desert road.
A post claimed that "dozens of tanks loaded with gasoline fuel are coming from Syria to Iraq to alleviate the fuel crisis caused by Iran by preventing the import of gasoline to Iraq through the Strait of Hormuz."
By dividing the video into still shots and using a reverse search, we found older versions posted on the Facebook platform on May 12.
Iraqi pages reported at the time that the scenes were related to “the passage of tanks loaded with oil from Iraq to Syria through the Rabia port in Nineveh.”
At the beginning of last May, the first operations to export Iraqi crude oil to Syrian territory began, through the Rabia-Al-Yarubiyah border crossing between the two countries, according to what the Iraqi News Agency reported, quoting the head of the Iraqi Border Ports Authority, Amr Al-Waeli.
Al-Waeli said, in a statement reported by the agency at the time, that Iraq began sending 70 tankers loaded with oil, considering that “the step constitutes a start for activating the Rabia-Al-Yarubiyah crossing as a strategic corridor for exporting crude oil.”
The return of the video to circulation coincides with the fuel shortage crisis witnessed in Iraqi provinces in recent weeks, which necessitated the House of Representatives questioning the Minister of Oil, Bassem Khudair al-Abadi. At a time, officials linked this to the Strait of Hormuz crisis.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Petroleum Company announced, on Sunday, the continuation of unloading and shipping gasoline tankers to Iraq, according to a company statement.
The company's Executive Vice President, Ahmed Qubaji, said, "The Baniyas terminal has so far received 10 gasoline tankers, while loading operations continue in equipped yards that accommodate 8 tanks at one time, with work being done to gradually increase the capacity," before reloading them by land to Iraq.

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