Pakistan on Thursday launched airstrikes at alleged militant hideouts in the Siestan-Balochistan province of Iran in retaliation to missile and drone attacks by Iran at alleged bases of Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan’s Balochistan province two days earlier. Following the retaliatory strikes by Pakistan, a video reportedly portraying the attack went viral on social media. The video shows missiles being fired from a row of trucks.
Pakistani user @weird_mystery_ tweeted the video and said “Now this is how you retaliate.” (Archive)
Now this is how you retaliate. #MissileAttack pic.twitter.com/ZgGsftoPr1
— Iqra. (@weird_mystery_) January 18, 2024
User @FarhanMalick16 also tweeted the video with the caption, “Pak knows how to retaliate”. (Archive)
Pak knows how to retaliate 🔥 #MissileAttack pic.twitter.com/EimM4vPgdW
— Farhan Malick 🕊️ (@FarhanMalick16) January 17, 2024
Verified user @iamqadirkhawaja also tweeted the video with the same claim. (Archive)
Don’t worry Pakistan Army knows how to retaliate just wait n watch
We are with our Pak Army
Pakistan Zindabaad#MissileAttack #PakistanArmy
— Qadir Khawaja (@iamqadirkhawaja) January 17, 2024
Several other users also amplified the viral video with the same claim. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Fact Check
We noticed that at the beginning of the viral video, the commands ‘stand by’ and ‘fire’ were made. This is when an army man can be seen moving towards the trucks and somebody cautions him by saying ‘saab dur rahiye’ (Sir, stay away) in Hindi.
Upon a reverse image search, we found several older uploads of the video online. The oldest instance of the video online is on April 10, 2018. The video is titled, “Indian Army BM-21 Grad Artillery Firing”.
The video has been reshared several times since. Here and here are some of the instances from 2018.
This particular video was also viral in the past with the claim that it portrayed “the return of the armed struggle to liberate Western Sahara” after Morocco announced the launch of a military operation in the area against the Polisario Front in November 2020. An AFP fact-check from that time also concluded that the viral video shpwed an Army training session and it had been filmed in Rajasthan, India. Alt news can not independently verify where and when the video was shot.
To sum up, an old video of the Indian Army firing artillery that dates back to at least April 10, 2018, is viral on social media with the claim that it portrays the Pakistani army’s retaliatory strikes on Iran.
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