Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
CLAIM
A video is being shared on social media platforms with a claim to show “fresh” fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian armies amid the ongoing war.
FACT
To verify the authenticity of the viral video, Newschecker began by carefully analysing the video and found that the soldiers were talking in English. We also noticed that the buildings seen in the video have a Middle-eastern architecture.
At 4:06-minute, we found text “Task force viper & the 36th commando bn killed 4 enemy,” in English. At the counters of 4:19-minute we found another text “and the shrine is secured” written.
Taking a clue from here, we conducted keyword search for ‘ task force viper and 36th commando bn shrine secured” on YouTube and found a video uploaded on a channel called ‘TikTok’ on May 20, 2021 with the caption, ‘Task Force viper & the 36th commando Bn.’
We found another YouTube video uploaded on a verified channel called ‘FUNKER530 – Veteran Community & Combat Footage’ on August 29, 2020 with the caption ‘Historical US Special Forces Raid On Golden Mosque.’
According to the video’s description, “The raid on the Golden Mosque took place on October 1, 2004 as part of the Battle for Samarra, also known as Operation Baton Rouge. The 36th Iraqi Commando Battalion, led by US special forces troops (possibly 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group), breached the compound after an AH64 Apache eliminated a three-man RPG team in the mosque with Hellfire missiles.”
You can read news reports on the Battle for Samarra here and here and other related news reports here and here.
The viral video claiming to show fighting between Russian and Ukrainian armies is actually from a US soldiers’ raid on Golden Mosque in Iraq in 2004.
Result: False Context/False
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
