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After Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed to have struck an Israeli-owned tanker within the Pink Sea, photographs of burning vessels had been shared in social media posts falsely claiming it confirmed the assault on the finish of August 2025. The pictures actually circulated in studies about Huthi assaults on transport within the globally essential waterway in August and October 2024.
“An unbelievable, distinctive operation by Yemen’s Huthis towards Israel,” reads a part of the prolonged Thai-language caption of a Fb picture shared on September 5, 2025.
“The Yemenis focused an Israeli oil tanker from a spread of 1,111 kilometres, precisely placing the targets within the Mediterranean Sea.”
The picture seems to point out an explosion on the aspect of a ship.
A comparable picture of a ship on fireplace was shared on the identical day on X with the Thai-language caption: “Pressing. Yemeni assault on a ‘new ship’ within the Pink Sea with exact focusing on, setting it ablaze.”
Screenshot of the false Fb submit taken on September 17, 2025, with a pink X added by AFP
Screenshot of the false X submit taken on September 10, 2025, with a pink X added by AFP
The pictures surfaced after the Iran-backed rebels mentioned on September 1 they’d fired a missile at a tanker within the Pink Sea, days after their prime minister was killed in an Israeli assault (archived hyperlink).
The Huthis, who management swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones focusing on Israel and Pink Sea transport all through the Gaza warfare, saying they’re performing in solidarity with Palestinians (archived hyperlink).
Whereas the rebels mentioned they scored a direct hit on the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray, the UK Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO) mentioned the assault missed the Israeli-owned ship.
The circulating photographs had been additionally shared in comparable Fb, TikTok and X posts.
The pictures, nevertheless, present totally different vessels and beforehand circulated in studies about Huthi assaults on transport in August and October 2024.
Assault on Cordelia Moon
A reverse picture search on Google discovered the primary image was utilized in a report by the Reuters information company printed on February 7, 2025 (archived hyperlink).
The image is a file photograph credited to “Houthi Army Media”, and is captioned: “The oil tanker Cordelia Moon bursts into flames after being hit by a missile within the Pink Sea, off Yemen’s Pink Sea Port of Hodeida, on this screengrab from a video launched on October 1, 2024.”
Subsequent key phrase searches led to the video posted on the web site of the Yemeni Armed Forces — which is affiliated with the Huthi rebels — on October 3, 2024 (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared picture (left) and the Reuters picture from October 2024 (proper)
The footage was additionally featured in a report by The Telegraph concerning the British oil tanker being struck by a Huthi drone boat (archived hyperlink).
Sounion fireplace
A mix of reverse picture and key phrase searches on Google discovered the second falsely shared picture was utilized in a report by the Related Press (AP) information company on August 24, 2024 (archived hyperlink).
Its caption says the picture is a screengrab from a video launched by the media arm of the Huthi rebels on August 23, 2024, and “reveals what the Huthis describe as one in every of their assaults on the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion within the Pink Sea.”
The video of the assault was additionally posted on the Yemeni Armed Forces web site (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared picture (left) and the AP picture from August 2024 (proper)
The footage was additionally used on the web site of NBC Information, which reported: “The group claimed that the video confirmed the Greek-flagged Sounion and had been filmed on August 22” (archived hyperlink).
AFP has beforehand debunked different misinformation round Huthi assaults within the Pink Sea.
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