The the same images and claims have been spread elsewhere on , Ukrainian, Malayalam, Thai and Malaysian. Iranian state media and Kremlin-linked news sources were further strengthened them.
In 2006, a UN Security Council resolution ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 in Israel, most of them soldiers.
Next Following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border attacks in support of its Palestinian ally.
The Israeli army struck back and the ensuing almost daily firefight forced tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza, Israel shifted its attention to Lebanon, pledging to fight Hezbollah until its northern border is secure and until displaced people can return home. It said 29 Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah.
The Israeli attacks on Beirut mainly targeted branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a bank that US officials say acts as a financial network for Hezbollah (archived here).
Beirut’s international airport has been under threat for weeks as Israel attacks locations in the capital, but Lebanon’s transport minister previously told AFP he had received “assurances” from Israeli officials that the airport would not be targeted. A Lebanese security official said Middle East Airlines flights were forced to change runways on October 21 because the attacks took place too close to the main runway.
However, the images shared online do not show any of these aircraft.
A spokesman for Middle East Airlines told AFP in an email on October 21 that the images appeared to be AI-generated and “far from reality”.
A keyword search on public social media pages reveals the first handful of Instagram accounts that posted the photos. They say the photos were taken using artificial intelligence and list the profile south.to.north (archived here and here).
The two AI-generated images will no longer appear on the original user page, but will still contain similar images uploaded around the same page time (archived here).
Matthew Stamm, a associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University (archived here), said that although his forensic analysis was inconclusive, he found several “irregularities” indicating that the images were artificial generated.
Siwei Lyudirector of the University at Buffalo’s Media Forensic Lab (archived here), also pointed out several “artifacts‘ in the planes that he says are ‘clearly’ not authentic.
These include a light pole going through the tail of one of the planes, the bizarre shape of the landing gear and the angle of one of the plane’s wings.
The Lebanese flag painted on the plane’s tail also looks different from the cedar tree on Middle East Airlines ships.
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Despite most airlines suspending flights to Beirut due to the regional conflict, Middle East Airlines has continued flying as officials tightened security to deter Israeli attacks.
AFP images from October 20 explosion The aftermath shows that no aircraft are moving on the runway in front of the airport explosion.
AFP has debunked other claims about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict here.
