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| - No evidence for Russian ‘missile attack’ on Israeli troops near Syria
A video posted on NetEase News on Nov. 24, 2023, claimed air and missile attacks between Russia and Israel in Syria led to 32 Russian and 18 Israeli casualties.
It said Russia responded to an “accidental” Israeli attack on its bases in Syria and fired cruise missiles from its warship in the Mediterranean.
(Context: Russia has had a military presence in Syria since the 1970s. The country is considered one of the most important allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and his government has received continuous support from the Russians since the Syrian civil war began after uprisings in 2011. Reportedly, Russian support has been steadily expanding over the last decade, providing military aid and personnel to Assad’s government.)
The NetEase video also said Russian missiles hit Israeli targets near the border, including an air base and an outpost in the Golan Heights.
Annie Lab looked into the footage, which is a montage of clips showing various military aircraft, vehicles, and ships. We also found the same claim in written articles featuring some images found in the video, which was published on Nov. 2, 2023, on NetEase and Baidu.
The one posted on Baidu has over 10,000 comments and nearly 3,000 likes, while the piece on NetEase has nearly 900 comments at the time of writing.
But our further investigation found no evidence to support these claims of military exchanges between Russian and Israeli troops.
Warship named Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov
Annie Lab was able to verify that what has been described as “Russian warships in the Mediterranean” is, in fact, a Russian vessel. But this video clip is most likely old footage; it is unrelated to the claim about the alleged incident.
We identified this warship through the number “399” painted on the body. We cross-checked the silhouette of the ship’s bridge with other images of the same vessel we found through reverse image search.
What the video shows is a Russian corvette (small warship) named “Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov.”
According to Russian state-owned TASS News, the newly built corvette was introduced as part of the Russian Pacific Fleet on Dec. 25, 2020. It is reported to be equipped with anti-ship Uran Kh-35U missiles.
US-owned destroyer named Pinckney
Meanwhile, the clip showing a missile fired from a navy warship does not feature a Russian vessel.
This video was released by the U.S. Department of Defense through its Defense Visual Information Distribution Services and features USS Pinckney firing a “telemetry missile” on June 7, 2017 in the Pacific Ocean.
It is neither a Russian warship nor in the Mediterranean Sea.
Unverifiable sources and out-of-context quote
There are four sources of information in the NetEase and Baidu articles that support the claim, but we found all of them problematic.
First, the anonymous “Syrian sources” could not be further investigated because there is no description or characteristics of those alleged “sources” in the articles. The reason for anonymity was not mentioned, either.
Second, although the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti was cited as the information source about the alleged Russian missile strike on Israeli targets on Nov. 2, 2023, we could not find any articles or news from RIA Novosti related to such attacks.
Thirdly, although the “Israeli military” was said to have “acknowledged the Russian missile strike,” Annie Lab could not find any official record or formal statement by the Israeli authorities.
We reached out to the Israeli Defense Force for verification, but no response has yet been received. As far as we can tell, no other news outlet has reported on the alleged incident except for the NetEase and Baidu articles.
Finally, the two articles state that the “Russian Defense Ministry” confirmed the initial Israeli attack and that Russia called Israel’s actions a “hostile act of aggression” and a “gross violation of international law.”
We found that Russia indeed condemned Israel’s actions as a violation of international law, but the quotes were misleadingly taken out of context.
According to CNN, Russia’s foreign ministry called Israel’s missile strikes on airports in Syria, not a Russian base, “a gross violation” of international law on Oct. 12, 2023. This Russian condemnation followed reports of Israeli missile strikes on Syrian international airports in both Aleppo and Damascus.
Another inconsistency
The NetEase video claims that Russian missiles were aimed at “Israeli targets in Syria and Lebanon,” including its airport and outpost in the Golan Heights. The Chinese name of the Israeli airport that was allegedly targeted is “馬特戴維機場.”
However, an internet search does not yield any results for Israeli airports with this name.
The closest Israeli air base that can be translated to a similar name in Chinese is Ramat David Airbase, located in Northern Israel, not close to the Syrian border.
In summary, there is no formal record or news reports of Russian missiles attacking Israeli targets, as claimed by the articles on Baidu and NetEase.
The video with the same claim shows what is likely to be an old clip of a Russian warship belonging to the country’s Pacific Fleet and another footage of an irrelevant U.S. destroyer.
None of the sources of information is reliable or verifiable; an out-of-context quote of a Russian statement is misleadingly used in the claim. Even the name and location of the Israeli airbase are imprecise. Therefore, Annie Lab concluded that the claim is not substantiated with any reliable evidence.
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