Amid tensions with Israel, outdated video shared as Iranian drone stuck in overhead power line

What is the claim? 

A video showing a drone stuck in overhead power lines has gained traction on various social media platforms. Users who shared the video have linked it to Iran's recent retaliatory attacks on Israel. A Facebook user stated, "An Iranian drone hangs in a power line in Iraq." An archived version of the post can be viewed here.

Another user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with the caption, "Iran sent a drone towards Israel, but it ended up entangled in electrical power lines within Iraq. Even a drone knows it can't get inside by invading the Iron Dome system of Netanyahu." This post (archived here) had over 1,00,00 views at the time of writing.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The video with the viral claim has surfaced days after Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel, two weeks after it held Israel responsible for the April 1 attack on its consulate in Damascus, Syria. Several visuals of these strikes have been shared on social media. However, the viral post video has no connection to the recent attack. 

What we found

Through a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video, Logically Facts found the same footage shared by a local Syrian news network, Al Sharqiya News, on its official X account. This clip was shared on February 21, and the caption under the video was written in Arabic, "A drone of unknown origin fell in the village of #Qamar al-Din in the town of #Abu Khashab, northwest of Deir ez-Zor (rough translation)." This confirms that the now-viral clip is old and unrelated to the recent April attack by Iran on Israel.

Nabd, an Arabic news network, also published the same video on February 20, mentioning that the flying object was an 'unidentified drone' stuck in Syria. Many users on X had shared the same footage in February. One X user named 'QalaatM' shared a better quality image capturing similar visuals seen in the viral clip, captioned, "Syria: photo of the day. An unidentified drone stuck in electric wires in Hasakah province."

Comparison showing the viral video and the images shared by an X user in February. (Source: X/QalaatM)

The verdict

Social media users are sharing an outdated video of a drone entangled in power lines, falsely claiming that it is from the current conflict between Iran and Israel. The photo is reportedly from Syria. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.