Video shows fire at power plant in Yemen, not Israel refinery hit by Iran
on a Yemeni power plant has resurfaced in posts falsely linking it to the Iran-Israel war. The posts circulated after Israel confirmed an oil refinery in Haifa was struck by an Iranian missile, but the clip was geolocated to a power plant south of Yemen's capital Sanaa and was shared weeks before arch foes Iran and Israel traded waves of devastating strikes.
"Bazan's power plant in Haifa was completely destroyed by an Iranian missile attack on June 16," reads a Thai-language X post shared on June 18, 2025.
An attached clip shows an industrial facility engulfed in flames and blanketed by thick black smoke.
It circulated after Israeli officials confirmed an oil refinery in the coastal city of Haifa was struck by an Iranian missile on June 15 (archived here and here).
The arch foes have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military facilities with a barrage of missiles on June 13, killing several top officials and prompting a counter-attack by Tehran (archived here and here).
In a flashpoint moment for the Middle EastPresident Donald Trump said US air strikes on June 22 had "totally obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites and warned more targets would be hit if Iran did not make peace quickly (archived link). Hours later, Iran launched two waves of attacks against long-time foe Israel.
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Screenshot of the false X post captured on June 19, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The same footage also circulated in other Thai-language posts as well as English, Burmese, Japanese, Hindi and Bengali posts.
But the video does not show an Iranian strike on Israel.
Sanaa power plant
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same clip posted on Instagram on May 7 (archived link).
According to an archive captured on June 19, its Arabic-language caption said it showed a power plant in Sanaa. The caption was later changed to say Tel Aviv.
The Instagram user did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the May 7 Instagram video (right)
Elements in the video also correspond to south of Sanaa (archived link).
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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and Google Maps imagery of the Haziz power plant (right), with similar elements highlighted by AFP
Media reports from May 6 and a post on the Israel Defense Forces' official X account say Yemen's capital Sanaa was hit by a series of airstrikes that targeted infrastructure including power stations (archived here, here and here).
Among the sites struck was the .
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Iran-Israel conflict.
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