The Israel–Iran war began on February 28, after US–Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliatory missile and drone attacks. The conflict has expanded across the region, involving Hezbollah and Gulf states.
Currently, both sides are intensifying attacks; Iran continues missile strikes on Israeli cities, while Israel is hitting targets in Iran and Lebanon, even planning deeper operations in southern Lebanon. Civilian casualties are rising, and despite talk of negotiations, no ceasefire is in sight.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared by social media users in which a woman is crying amid rubble.
Social media users are sharing the video with a caption suggesting that it shows an Israeli woman in Tel Aviv showing the condition of her house after it was destroyed in an Iranian attack.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Watch this video from Tel Aviv: A woman weeps as she describes the condition of her home.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is from 2025 and shows a Syrian swimmer, Yusra Mardini is crying as her house is destroyed in Syria.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by an Instagram account, Yusra Mandini, on March 14, 2025.
The video was shared with a caption suggesting that it is of Syria. The caption reads, “I’m home but my home doesn’t stand. I want to share what I feel with you because this is not just about me, this is what many Syrians are going through right now. Loss, pain and trauma. This is the home I grew up in, drew my dreams of becoming the best woman I could be, and even washed dad’s car with him in the neighbourhood. Yes, my home is just rubble but those memories will always give me the strength to move forward.”
The bio of the Instagram page suggests that she is an Olympian.
Further, we found a YouTube channel that shared the same video on March 14, 2025, suggesting that the person in the video is a Syrian swimmer.
The caption reads, “UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and former Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini returned home to Syria to find most of her neighbourhood in Daraya destroyed, including the building where she once lived. Located in the suburbs of Damascus, Daraya was repeatedly targeted by Russian and former Syrian government air strikes during 14 years of conflict. While crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece in 2015, Yusra, along with her sister and two others, saved the lives of everyone in their dinghy by swimming beside the boat for several hours, navigating it to safety after the engine had failed—a story that inspired the 2022 Netflix film The Swimmers. After finding refuge in Germany, Mardini went on to compete as a member of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and again at the Tokyo Games.”
We further found that the incident was also reported by Al Arabiya on March 28, 2025.
According to the reports, Olympian Yusra Mardini returned to Syria for the first time in a decade after fleeing the civil war in 2015. Visiting her destroyed home and old swimming pool near Damascus, she reunited with family and reflected on her journey from refugee to global figure. The trip was deeply emotional, as she also aimed to support recovery efforts and reconnect with her roots.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video is from 2025 and is from Syria.
