Fact check: Beirut blast clip misrepresented as India-Pakistan conflict

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Old footage from the 2020 port explosion resurfaced online as Pakistan and India engaged in four days of intense fighting before a ceasefire, AFP notes.

“BREAKING NEWS: Pakistan and India are engaged in an open war and attacking each other brutally,” reads part of an Indonesian-language post on X on May 7.

 Screenshot of false post, taken on May 9, 2025 — AFP.
Screenshot of false post, taken on May 9, 2025 — AFP.

The post features a six-second clip of a major explosion levelling buildings along a street.

AFP found that the scene matches images of a Beirut street seen on Google Maps. The video’s matching location is along a street called Chafaka.

A reverse image search using keyframes found that the circulating clip is part of longer footage published on the YouTube channel of broadcaster CNBC International on August 2, 2021.

Read more here.

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