Does a video on social media document a barrage of hundreds of cruise missiles and drones launched into Israel by Iran on April 13, 2024? No, that's not true: The video, found in a variety of posts, appeared on social media several years before Iran's 2024 attack on Israel. Lead Stories found examples of the clip dating back to 2022 and 2021.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X (formerly Twitter) by The Patriot Voice on April 13, 2024. The post's caption said:
BREAKING WW3 RED ALERT!!! 🚨🚨🚨⚠️⚠️⚠️
IRAN HAS JUST LAUNCHED A BARRAGE OF HUNDREDS OF CRUISE MISSILES AND DRONES INTO ISRAEL!
The United States is reportedly sending fighter jets over to Israel. This will provoke Iran to attack US. IF that happens RUSSIA, and CHINA will step into protect Iran.
Dont forget, .@JoeBiden FUNDED Iran to the tune of $10 BILLION, which enabled the Oct. 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, and now THIS.
WORLD WAR 3 WILL OFFICIALLY START ON BIDEN'S WATCH.
PRAY FOR DEESCALATION!
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Sat Apr 13 23:47:05 2024 UTC)
The video
The video in the social media post had nothing to do with the drone and missile strikes launched against Israel by Iran in April 2024. Not only was the clip several years old on the date of Iran's attack, but it may also be computer-generated.
Lead Stories found examples of the video posted to social media in 2021 (archived here) and 2022 (archived here).
2021
The caption to a post published in Spanish to Instagram on October 8, 2021, says (translated by Google Translate):
POV: you're going to die. ☠️
❗CGI❗
What humanity once saw
The caption - "!CGI!" - suggests computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used in the clip. It might be from a video game, showing scenes of World War II-era aircraft. The video is embedded below:
2022
Another video published to Facebook on February 25, 2022, shows the same clip. Its caption, written in Somali, refers to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (translated by Google Translate):
Kiev Ukraine, in a difficult situation
The video is embedded here:
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Iran and Israel can be found here.
