Photo shows damage in Yemen's Sanaa airport in 2015, not 2024

After multiple air raids targeted Yemen’s Sanaa airport in December 2024, which the Iran-backed Huthi rebels blamed on Israel, a photo of smoke billowing from a runway ricocheted worldwide in social media posts that falsely depicted it as showing the recent attack. It actually shows the airport in Sanaa damaged by airstrikes in April 2015.

“Report: Attacks on Sanaa and Hodeida in Yemen. It’s believed to be an attack by Israel,” read a Thai-language X post published on December 26, 2024.

“Another attack was reported in the Huthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. Attacked area: Airport in Sana’a, Kaziz Power Plant, and the basic structure of Hodeida Port.”

The post featured a photo of two planes on a runway, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

<span>Screenshot of the false X post, taken on January 3, 2025</span>” loading=”lazy” width=”536″ height=”855″ decoding=”async” data-nimg=”1″ class=”rounded-lg” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/JWhLQQFWWE7OqqS9X.FV8A–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE1MzE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/312f8d0948195bd6ea541938253a4176″></div><figcaption class=

The post was shared as Sanaa airport and the adjacent Al-Dailami base were targeted along with a power station in Hodeida, in attacks that the Huthis’ Al-Masirah TV channel called “Israeli aggression” (archived link).

The raids came after a Huthi missile attack left 16 people wounded in Israel’s main commercial city of Tel Aviv — which prompted a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he had ordered the destruction of Huthi infrastructure.

The Huthis have fired a series of missiles and drones at Israel since the eruption of war in Gaza in October 2023, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.

The photo was also shared alongside similar claims in posts written in Thai, English, Indonesian, Arabic and French.

Old picture

However, a reverse image search on Google traced the photo to an article published by Yemen Press about Saudi-led airstrikes on Sanaa’s airport on April 28, 2015 (archived link).

The attack damaged the airport’s runway and aircraft, rendering the airport inoperable, the report said.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the Yemen Press report (right):

<span>Screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the Yemen Press report (right)</span>” loading=”lazy” width=”960″ height=”376″ decoding=”async” data-nimg=”1″ class=”rounded-lg” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Gzg9lvdr8dG4kORK4UpnXw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTM3Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/f31bbf0aef0010536db76300decc7c96″><button aria-label= — Screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the Yemen Press report (right)

A Saudi-led coalition destroyed the rebel-held Sanaa airport runway after an Iranian plane “defied” a blockade on Yemeni airspace and its pilot dismissed calls to land at a Saudi airport to be searched, AFP reported at the time (archived link).

A video distributed by AFP on April 29, 2015 corresponds with the viral photo shared alongside the false claim. It was credited to Al-Masirah TV and titled: “Yemen: Sanaa airport runway destroyed”.

<span>Screenshot of a video distributed by AFP on April 29, 2015.</span>” loading=”lazy” width=”960″ height=”525″ decoding=”async” data-nimg=”1″ class=”rounded-lg” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/NmFjQmvMp6ZXP3JGUHa91g–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUyNQ–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/3c20b2f26f33bbccab768cfe06c9e0d4″><button aria-label= — Screenshot of a video distributed by AFP on April 29, 2015.

The conflict in the Middle East has spurred a wave of misinformation repeatedly debunked by AFP.

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