The video, which shows planes in formation, made the rounds on social media around the world, including in Arabic, Indonesian and English.
Former US Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman also shared the false claim on his X account.
Military parade in Egypt
A reverse image search of the video on Google revealed that it was previously posted to TikTok on October 3 – more than three weeks before the Israeli attack on Iran (archived link).
The video’s Arabic-language caption translates as: “Egyptian army.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in Fake Posts (left) and the earlier TikTok video (right):
The TikTok user who posted the video told AFP he filmed it in Al Shourouk, east of the Egyptian capital Cairo, during a military academy graduation ceremony on October 3.
According to Egypt’s State Information Service, the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo held a graduation ceremony that day (archived link).
“The ceremony included impressive air displays, with helicopters carrying the Egyptian flag and military emblems, and a formation of 19 aircraft representing the 118th graduating class,” the website said.
Arabic-speaking AFP journalists confirmed that a man off camera in the video was heard speaking an Egyptian Arabic dialect, saying “God bless” as the planes flew by.
A man – possibly the same person – is also heard saying “the eagles of the sky” in the same dialect.
Also an Egyptian car driver’s license plate is visible in the video, which matches the plate commonly used in the North African country, as shown on the website WorldLicensePlates.com (archived link).
There are no official reports that Israeli forces have used Egyptian airspace after launching airstrikes on Iran.
Iran’s neighbor Iraq condemned Israel’s use of its airspace in the attack in a protest letter to United Nations head Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, Baghdad said (archived link).
AFP has repeatedly debunked disinformation related to the Middle East conflict.
