2015 Image of Security Check In Yemen Shared As Afghanistan Airport

The image is viral in the backdrop of Kabul's takeover by Taliban. The US will withdraw troops by August 31. Addressed to media, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told that the US is still aiming for a final pull out within the current deadline. Desperate scenes of evacuation and escape at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul were reported as thousands tried to board evacuation flights from the airport. Incidents of stampede, deadly gunfire have reportedly killed more than 40 people since past week.

The image has been widely shared on Facebook with a caption, "Security check at Afghanistan airport."

See two posts here and here.

The image has been shared on Twitter by a Lallantop journalist with similar context.

Also Read: Taliban Takeover: Video Of Man Threatening India Over Kashmir Not Recent

Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse search and found a tweet by Amjad Tadros, a Middle East producer for CBS news, American television and news service. On July 1, 2015 he captioned the tweet as "Memories of Yemen: Houthi soldiers investigating a man attending a rally. Knives, skewers and machine guns are allowed."

We also saw the image featured on a website on November 3, 2015. The article stated that the photograph was taken in Yemen.

We spotted a similar screengrab featured in a news report titled, "Rare look inside battle-torn Yemen" by US broadcaster CBS Evening News. The report about the Yemen civil war was uploaded on June 16, 2015. At 1:21 timestamp the same people are seen in the video. According to the news report, two branches of Islam have been fighting in Yemen's civil war against each other - the Sunnis backed by Saudi Arabia and the Shias, backed by Iran.

CBS News confirmed to Reuters via email that the image was taken by Tadros in Yemen in 2015. BOOM spoke to Amjad Tadros who confirmed the same. "Yes, I took this picture in Yemen in June 2015."

Below is a comparison of the viral image and the visuals reported by CBS.

The Houthis are North Yemen based Zaydi Shiite rebels. They started a theological movement which turned to an international conflict. The Houthis took over the capital city of Yemen, Sanaa in late 2014. In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition government was overthrown. The exiled Yemeni government asked its allies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to launch a military campaign to drive out the Houthis. The insurgency became a full-fledged war which is known as the Sadah conflict; the conflict turned out to be a major humanitarian crisis thereafter.

Also Read: No, This Video Does Not Show Afghans Rushing Into Kabul Airport