
Revealing the truth about old video clips being circulated as recent Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities
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The allegations coincide with the Houthis announcing attacks against Saudi targets, and French statements about protecting the Yanbu facility.
Social media accounts promoted two video clips claiming to be linked to Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and Aramco oil facilities in the city of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.
The two clips show night scenes of the moment missiles fall, and another of a massive fire from which flames rise and thick clouds of black smoke.
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CNN Arabic's investigation revealed that the two videos are old and not related to recent military developments between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi group.
By splitting the first video into still shots and using a reverse search, we found a version on YouTube dated October 2, 2024.
The title of the clip published on the “Live from the Cockpit” channel was: “Video from Tel Aviv documents the moment of the Iranian missile attack #Israel #Iran #Tel_Aviv #War_Zone.”
At that time, Iran launched missile attacks on Israel, as part of what the Iranian Revolutionary Guard called “Operation True Promise 2,” which it said at the time was to respond to the killing of the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
Israel also launched massive air strikes on Iran, as part of what it called “Operation Rising Lion.”
While a reverse search for the second video, which claims fire broke out in facilities in the city of Yanbu, showed that it is linked to a fire that occurred in a popular market in the Emirate of Ajamat in the United Arab Emirates.
CNN Arabic had published footage similar to what appeared in the video on August 5, 2020.
Video footage showed the first moments of a massive fire breaking out in one of the popular markets in the new industrial area in the Emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates.
At that time, Ajman Police published a video from the site of the fire, and announced that it was under control without any injuries or deaths.
The allegations accompanying the two video clips coincide with the Houthi group’s announcement, on Thursday evening, of launching attacks targeting a “sensitive target” in Riyadh and the Aramco company in Yanbu, in addition to “military sites” in Jizan.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced, on Thursday, that France will deploy defense resources - including military personnel - to help protect the facility to secure the Yanbu complex for exporting Saudi oil, which was damaged as a result of an attack launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen recently.
In a television interview with TF1 and France 2 channels on Thursday, Macron said that France had ended its talks with Saudi Arabia to help secure the Yanbu complex.
Macron noted that the facility previously handled more than 5 million barrels of oil per day, describing the protection of the region's energy infrastructure as "part of a broader effort to prevent disruptions to global fuel supplies."

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