Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Lebanese citizens take to the streets to celebrate after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker noticed that several users pointed out that the video is from 2020, well before the recent Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah targets.
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this TikTok post, dated January 20, 2020 by a user “k.reem”, sharing the same video, which confirms that it predates the Nasrallah killing.
Newchecker then looked up the profile, where we found the user posted a clarification on September 29, 2024, regarding the viral video, stating, “My friends, be careful of all the fake posts…They used a very old video of mine from 2020, claiming it shows me and my friends celebrating the assassination of a political figure. JUST TO CLARIFY: The video is old from the Lebanese revolution, and I don’t live in Lebanon currently.”
We learnt that Lebanon’s October 2019 revolution, which lasted for months, saw tens of thousands of peaceful protesters taking to the streets across the country, calling for their social and economic rights, for accountability, an end to corruption, and the resignation of all political representatives.
We also came across this Reuters fact-check of the viral video, which confirms that it is from four years ago and not related to the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Result: False
Sources
TikTok post, January 20, 2020
TikTok post, September 29, 2024
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form. Follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates.
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
