Footage of two unrelated events in Algeria and Indonesia has been viewed thousands of times, alongside a false claim that it shows the aftermath of a Hezbollah attack on Israel. The clips – which first circulated online in August 2024 – dated several weeks before the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
“We have seen an Israel hell by the grace of Hezbollah,” read the Bengali caption next to a video shared on Facebook. September 23, 2024.
The footage begins with people gathering to watch fireworks light up the sky above vehicles on a road. It then cuts to the scene of a fire in a large open space, while screaming can be heard in the background.
The video was also shared alongside a similar false claim in Bengali, here and here on Facebook; and here in English on Instagram.
The message spread online as Israel and Hezbollah threatened to escalate their cross-border attacks, despite a chorus of international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war (archived link).
Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
The unprecedented attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,788 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-held territory.
But the fragment has nothing to do with the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Fireworks in Algeria
Google reverse image searches using keyframes from the post found a video shared to YouTube on August 9, 2024 (archived link).
The caption of the clip reads: “Celebration of the fans of Mouloudia d’Alger on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary.”
Below is a comparison of the flipped images in the fake messages (left) and the YouTube video (right):
The Algerian football team Mouloudia Club d’Alger celebrated its 103rd anniversary in August 2024.
At the two-second time stamp, the clip shows a group of men wearing jackets with the acronym ‘GIP’, which corresponds to the uniform of the Algerian police (archived link).