A video of fighter jets from Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are viral online with the false claim that the planes assembled together to support Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. BOOM found that the claims are false and the video shows an event organised by Pakistan where 14 countries participated to display their defence capabilities.
The Israel-Hamas conflict, which began on October 7 after Hamas launched an attack on Southern Israel from Gaza, has led to 2,300 deaths so far, as per official figures. Along with videos of the devastation caused in the wake of this unrest, social media is also riddled with several false videos claiming to be from the conflict region. Read some of our fact-checks here.
The 39-second clip shows shots of fighter planes from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey and is viral on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, "Turkey and syria War jets arrives tehran airport in Iran , may be they should going to give backup to palestine."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Facebook with similar captions.
Click here to view the post.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from Indus Shield 2023, a defence exercise by Pakistan in which 14 countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia participated.
We looked at the video closely and found the flags of three countries on the planes -- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
Taking a clue from this, we ran a keyword search using 'Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Air Force Planes' on Google and found a news story by Arab News published on October 8, 2023. The article contained a video closely resembling the viral video and carried the headline 'Pakistan Air Force launches 14-nation Indus Shield 2023 exercise with Middle Eastern participation'
The article detailed how 14 countries participated in this event hosted by Pakistan to "strengthen defence ties" with other countries and display their "unparalleled skills and operational capabilities". The event was inaugurated by chief guest and Air Vice Marshal of Pakistan, Tariq Mehmood Ghazi.
We also found a video shared by the Pakistan Air Force's official YouTube channel on October 8 titled 'PAF'S 14 NATION MULTINATIONAL AIR EXERCISE INDUS SHIELD-2023 KICKS OFF AT ACE'. The portion of the video from 0:07-0:45 matched the viral video.
The description of the video also included an official press release that informed how the Pakistan Air Force organised this event on October 8 at an operational air base in the country. The objectives included "augmenting the existing partnership" between the countries and "promoting (their) warm and brotherly relations". The exercises also offered learning opportunities in aerial warfare by simulating real-time war scenarios. Air Forces from 14 countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Morocco, Uzbekistan, China, and Hungary participated in this multinational exercise.
Pakistan Observer and news agency Associated Press of Pakistan also carried similar reports of the exercise on October 8.
