Scene from 2022 short film shared as real video of Houthis attacking Israel

What's being claimed?

A 25-second video of a purported missile attack on a city has been shared widely, claiming that it shows Houthis, a rebel group from Yemen, attacking Israel. The claim has emerged as Houthis have been mounting attacks on Israel in support of Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war. Recently, Israel shot down drones and missiles fired by Houthis from the Red Sea, Reuters reports.

An X(formerly Twitter) user shared the video with the caption, "The Houthis have released a video: 'To whom it may concern... We will destroy your temporary entity. Be prepared, you sons of monkeys and pigs.' The Houthis released this just after their entire energy supply was blown to smithereens." The video was shared by many users on X and Facebook. Archives can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of the video circulating online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is false. The video is not real but from a short film that aims to tell the story of Palestine's liberation.

Here are the facts

Through a reverse image search, we found a longer version of the viral video posted on the X account of Palestinian cartoon artist Omar Sommad (archived here) on September 9, 2022. The viral clip starts at 0:40 seconds. The video was shared with a caption in Arabic, which loosely translates to: "This is how Palestine will be liberated... as you have never seen it before...150 international and Arab artists gathered to present what befits Palestine. With the participation of a group of Lebanese and Syrian artists."

A Google search led us to a YouTube channel named Saqatatt| سقطت (archived here), which published the full video, which is around 13 minutes, on August 7, 2022. It was captioned: "Fell... The work that tells the story of the liberation of Palestine (translated from Arabic)." The viral clip starts at the timestamp of 10:52 seconds. At 12:59, at the end of the short film, text appears on the screen stating that the video is "the work of 150 international artists, along with Arab, Syrian, and Lebanese artists." The video description contains hashtags like #movie, #Art #Arts as well.

The same viral clip was found on another YouTube channel named "Remah رماح ـ" (archive here), posted on September 7, 2022. The viral clip starts at the timestamp 4:08 seconds, and according to the description, it is a 13-minute short film directed by Kamel Harb and produced by "Media for Visual and Audio." It adds that it was shot in the Al-Qadam neighborhood in Damascus, Syria. The news website Al-Maydeen also published a report on this film on August 16, 2022, citing some screenshots from the film. The report states that Robin Eissa, a Syrian actor, acted in this short film, and it is an imaginary simulation of the moment of Palestine's liberation.

The film was screened at the Days of Resistance Cinema (أيام سينما المقاومة) organized by the Syrian Ministry of Culture (archive here) at Damascus Opera House on September 19, 2022. The Al-Manar Lebanon News website also reports about the film "Fell" being screened at Damascus Opera House.

The verdict

A video from a short film shot in Syria has been misrepresented as a video of Houthis attacking Israel.