An international coalition has been formed in the Red Sea to counter the Houthis' numerous attacks. In response, the Yemeni rebel group has already attacked an American ship. In reality, this is false information based on video surveillance.
In view of increasing attacks in the Red Sea, the West is presenting a united front. But is he already injured? The day after announcing an international coalition to combat the Houthis' “irresponsible” actions, particularly targeting merchant ships, the Yemeni rebel group reportedly responded.
According to a video published this Tuesday, December 19, Yemeni rebels attacked the American army “near the port of Berbera,” off the coast of Somalia. An announcement that would mean the “beginning of the Third World War,” according to the author of one of the publications. We have conducted an audit.
A video from 2013
As we explained to you In this article, the United States announced Monday the creation of Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of 10 countries, including France, to counter repeated attacks by the Houthis. Its main task will be to ensure freedom of navigation in the strait in the face of rebels attacking merchant ships out of “solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the blockade of Gaza.”
In response, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior official in the group, said the next day that ships of “any country” acting against the Houthis would be attacked in the Red Sea. A threat that, according to rumors, he has already made good by attacking an “American destroyer.” The video evidence actually shows one of these warships being attacked. The explosion is accompanied by the cry “Allahu akbar,” that liturgical formula that has become a war cry.
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Except a reverse image search shows the footage isn't recent. We find it on June 7, 2013, published on YouTube by CNN. It's titled “Here's How a Giant Ship Explodes Hollywood-Style” and shows the exact same footage with a few differences. The video was cropped and the symmetry was reversed to make the footage more difficult to recognize. But all other visual cues, including the shape of the explosion, the smoke clouds, and the debris, are completely identical.
Furthermore, this video is not of a ship destroyed by rebels, but of a training that took place on June 6th in which “the Norwegian Navy blew up one of its own ships to test its long-range missile capabilities.” as it says The caption explains. “The Norwegian Navy has tested its new four-meter-long naval attack missile (…) on one of its own ships, the KNM Trondheim, with spectacular results,” says an article in a military information magazine. An attack that produced “a huge fireball” while the decommissioned frigate was in the waters off Andøy, one of Norway’s northernmost islands.
A video that is therefore old and took place far from the Red Sea. Not enough to trigger an escalation of violence in the Middle East, contrary to what netizens suspect.
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Felicia SIDERIS