Viral image does not show Ismail Haniyeh’s house in Tehran after his assassination

What’s the claim?

A photo showing a multi-story building with a damaged window is being widely shared on social media, claiming to show the assassination site of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

A user on Facebook shared a screenshot of an X (formerly Twitter) post that reads, "This is how a precision strike looks like: a single missile through the window, and only Haniyeh and his bodyguard are dead. Nobody else in the building is even injured [sic]." Archived versions of the post can be found here and here.

Another user on X shared the image, along with two other images, with a caption in Arabic that roughly translates to: "Photos of Ismail Haniyeh's residence in Tehran after an Israeli attack." An archived version of the post can be seen here.

The image was shared days after Ismail Haniyeh, a political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, Iran, on July 31, 2024. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is investigating the cause of his death. According to CNN, both the Iranian government and Hamas claim that Israel was responsible for the assassination, but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

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

However, this image is unrelated to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

What we found

Through a reverse image search, Logically Facts found the same image published in a CNN report dated August 3, 2022. The report stated that the image shows a house in Kabul that was hit by a U.S. strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Screenshot of 2022 image showing the house in Kabul by CNN. (Source:CNN)

On July 31, 2022, a U.S. drone strike in Kabul targeted and killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda, in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul, close to the U.K. embassy. The attack was carried out by a U.S. drone using a Hellfire missile, which struck the house where al-Zawahiri was believed to be staying. This operation marked a significant moment in counterterrorism efforts, as it eliminated one of the key figures behind al Qaeda’s global operations.

According to the CNN report, the building in the now-viral image was located approximately 1,000 feet away from the United Kingdom embassy in Kabul. Specifically, the house was in the Sherpur neighborhood of the Afghan capital, surrounded by multiple houses and buildings to its north, south, and west. 

The BBC shared another image of the same building on August 3, 2022, with parts of it covered in green cloth. 

Meanwhile, the New York Times published an image August 1, 2024, of the supposed site where Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. While this image also has a green cloth covering a part of it, it differs from the now-viral one.

The evidence in hand indicates that the viral image does not depict the residence where Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was allegedly assassinated.

The verdict

An image from a 2022 U.S. drone strike in Kabul, where al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed, is being shared with the false claim that it shows Ismail Haniyeh's Tehran residence after his recent assassination.