The Indian armed forces successfully executed ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying out targeted strikes on nine ‘terrorist infrastructure’ sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that left 26 civilians dead.
After Operation Sindoor, several pictures and videos not related to the incident, and some old are being widely shared on social media platforms as recent. Here’s a fact check.
Claim 1:
X user
The Indian armed forces successfully executed ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying out targeted strikes on nine ‘terrorist infrastructure’ sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that left 26 civilians dead.
After Operation Sindoor, several pictures and videos not related to the incident, and some old are being widely shared on social media platforms as recent. Here’s a fact check.
Claim 1:
X user WatcherAnon shared a video claiming Pakistan retaliated against India.
Several other users were also sharing a similar video.
Investigation:
We ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
This led us to a post on X from 2020, which suggested that the video was from Beirut, Lebanon.
We also found the video grab in a news report from 5th Aug 2020.
Claim 2:
X user Report Kashmir shared an image stating that it showed an Indian Rafale hit by Pakistan.
Other users were also sharing the same image.
Investigation:
We started the investigation using a reverse image search on the image.
This led us to news reports from 2021.
The news reports stated: An Indian Air Force pilot was killed in a MiG-21 fighter jet crash at Langeana village of Punjab’s Moga district in the wee hours of Friday. The pilot has been identified as IAF MCC Squadron leader Abhinav Chaudhary and he was on night training when the accident happened.
Claim 3:
Instagram user Jack shared the video showing missiles being fired over night sky with claims that the video is from Operation Sindoor.
The video was shared by several media organisations along with other social media profiles.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found the same video on the YouTube channel of DD India, posted seven months ago.
The video was titled: Iranian missiles targeting the Nevatim airbase in the Negev Desert
Another video also suggested that the video was from an Iranian strike over Israel.
Claim 4:
X user Janardan Mishra shared a video claiming it to be related to the Operation Sindoor.
Investigation:
We ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
The video was posted on April 14 by an Instagram account hasoon.assi.
The same video was shared by several social media users around April 15, stating it is from Palestine.
Conclusion: Unrelated, old pictures and videos are being widely shared on social media platforms after Operation Sindoor by the Indian Armed Forces. The viral media and claims are misleading.
