Posts from users on multiple social media platforms on Wednesday shared a video, claiming that it showed people in Qatar protesting against a United States air base. However, the video is from May, when people in Libya were protesting against their government.
Today, Iran’s National Security Council confirmed that it carried out a retaliatory missile strike on the US military base at Al Udeid in Qatar. The attack came in response to American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In its official statement, Iran emphasised that the number of missiles launched matched the number of bombs used by the US, framing it as a proportional response. The council also clarified that the strike did not pose any threat to Qatar, describing the Gulf nation as a “friendly and brotherly country”.
A video was shared today on X by a pro-military account, based on its bio, past posts and profile picture, showing people protesting.
The caption of the post said: “For the first time in history, the Qatari people are protesting, and that too against the American base built on 12 square kilometres of land in a small country like Qatar.”
The post was viewed by over 122,000 people.
The same claim was also shared by a pro-PTI account, where it received more than 52,000 views.
Several other X users shared the same video with similar captions as can be seen here, here and here.
The video also spread across other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the Iran-Israel conflict and the subsequent involvement of the US and Qatar in it.
A reverse image search led to a TikTok video uploaded on May 15. In the video, the person was heard speaking in a foreign language.
@user3980856610581 ♬ الصوت الأصلي - عبدالمنعم المريمي
Processing the video through the AI transcription tool Turboscribe, which generated an English transcript, showed that the person mentioned Libyan capital Tripoli and was calling for some official’s resignation.
The same video was also shared by Libyan news outlet Libya Alhadath on Facebook on May 15 with the following caption: “Watch | Protesters in front of the Prime Minister’s Office on Al-Sikka Road are calling for Dbeibah to step down.”
A keyword search for “Libya”, “protest”, “resign” and “Al-Sikka Road” led to a news report by Libyan publication The Libya Observer on May 17, titled: “Protests against Dbeibah government amid resignations by some ministers”.
According to the report, protests took place in Tripoli on May 16 at Martyrs’ Square and outside the Prime Minister’s Office on Al-Sikka Road, with demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Government of National Unity and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. The protests were sparked by recent security tensions in the capital that resulted in casualties and material damage. In response, several ministers resigned in solidarity with the protesters.
A keyword search for news reports on protests in Qatar against any US airbase to corroborate the alleged development also yielded no news reports or videos of any such incident.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a video shows people in Qatar protesting against a US air base is false. The video is from May, when people in Libya were protesting against their government.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
