Regional tensions have soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, drawing in militant groups backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
The war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 35,200 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The picture was also shared in similar Thai posts here and here.
Syria explosion
A reverse image search on Google, however, found the picture was taken by AFP photographer Delil Souleiman in eastern Syria on March 11, 2019.
It can be viewed on AFP’s archives here.
The photo’s caption read: “A picture taken in eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor shows explosions following shelling by the US-backed forces on the Islamic State group’s embattled holdout of Baghouz, on March 11, 2019.
“US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pounded the last scrap of land held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria after hundreds more people surrendered.
“The jihadists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that territory except for a riverside slither of land near the Iraqi border.”
Below is a screenshot comparison between the picture shared in the false posts (left) and photo on AFP’s archives (right):
The picture was also published in multiple news reports about the raids in Baghouz in March 2019 here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
AFP has fact-checked more misinformation about the Gaza war here.
