The crisis began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched major airstrikes on Iran, killing senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In response, Iran and allied militias expanded attacks across the region, including Iraq. Missile strikes, militia clashes and attacks near the Iran–Iraq border have turned Iraq into a key battleground in the wider regional war.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared by social media users in which people are sitting in a stadium at a football match when missiles are seen flying in the sky.
A social media user shared the video with a caption suggesting that it shows people enjoying a football match amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict in Iraq.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “BREAKING — Football in Iraq.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is misleading. The viral video shows a local football game being played in Saudi Arabia during a missile attack, possibly from 2018.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by an X account on August 2, 2018, with the caption that reads, “Oh heroes of Jizan: At least they stopped the match and watched the rockets.” We found that Jizan is a city in Saudi Arabia.
Another X account had also shared the video with a caption that reads, “The football league in Samtah Governorate in Jizan—they’re playing while rockets fly overhead, and they’re not afraid at all, and life goes on as normal.”
We found that the video was shared by a website, Marca, on August 6, 2018.
The caption associated with the video reads, “The shocking images of projectiles passing over a dirt football field near the border with Saudi Arabia have gone viral on social media because of the nonchalance with which the players themselves take the situation."
Taking a hint, we searched with relevant keywords and found that the incident was also reported by Al Arabiya, a local Arabic website, on August 8, 2018.
The report suggested that on August 8, 2018, Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward the Saudi city of Jizan. Saudi officials said the missile targeted a densely populated civilian area, but it was shot down before impact. Debris fell in nearby areas, and no casualties were reported
While we could not verify the exact location of the video, we can ascertain that the viral video is old and not related to the ongoing Middle East crisis.
