‘Abu Dhabi burning’: 2022 gas cylinder blast video falsely viral amid West Asia conflict

Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, a six-second video clip is circulating on social media. The footage shows an explosion on the top floor of what appears to be a residential building. It is being shared with the claim that it captures the current situation in Abu Dhabi amid the war.

An X user, Anis Mansour (@anesmansory), shared the video on March 5, 2026, claiming it shows the situation in Abu Dhabi in the context of the conflict. In his X bio, Mansour describes himself as a writer for Arabi21 News.

الان ابوظبي تحترق 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/6yID63nVg4

— أنيس منصور (@anesmansory) March 5, 2026

The post has garnered over 200,000 views. 

An X account, NewsOrbit (@NewsOrbit1122), shared the same video clip claiming that it depicted the real-time footage of Abu Dhabi. (Archive)

Now Abu Dhabi is burning 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/EJHMmGbAXm

— NewsOrbit (@NewsOrbit1122) March 5, 2026

Another X user, Lotfi Ben Salem (@lotfi4461), shared the video with a caption, “Abu Dhabi is burning” on March 6, 2026. (Archive)

Now Abu Dhabi is burning 🔥🔥🔥#Iran / #Israel / #MiddleEast / #Lebanon / #Iraq / #Jordan / #Syria / #Yemen / #SaudiArabia / #Qatar / #UAE / #USA / #Canada / #WW3
#Minnesota #Trump #USA #MAGA#generalstrike #nationalstrike pic.twitter.com/x2EgtkCnCb

— Lotfi BEN SALEM🇹🇳 (@lotfi4461) March 5, 2026

Several social media accounts have also shared this clip with similar claims. A few of them are shown in the gallery below:

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Fact Check

A reverse image search on keyframes from the viral clip led us to several posts on X from four years ago, indicating that the footage predates the current conflict. One of the earliest instances we found was shared by an X account named Zero Hour (@zero_hour2020) on February 9, 2022, with the caption “Abu Dhabi now”.

We also found multiple news reports from February 2022, featuring the purported video. These reports indicate that the video was linked to a gas cylinder explosion in a residential building on Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi, which triggered a brief fire but caused no casualties. Authorities said emergency teams quickly brought the situation under control.

According to Reuters, Abu Dhabi civil defence received a report of a fire at 12:09 am on February 9, 2022 “caused by a gas cylinder explosion in a building in a central residential area”. There were no casualties as “Specialized teams extinguished the fire, evacuated the building as a precaution and controlled the situation.”

To sum up, the viral video of the explosion does not depict the current situation in Abu Dhabi amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia. The footage dates back to February 9, 2022, and shows a gas cylinder explosion in a residential area. Claims linking the video to the present conflict are false and misleading.