After the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, several videos circulated showing celebrations in Lebanon, Syria and even Iran. One of them shows a young girl filming herself with her friends, joyful in front of other demonstrators brandishing Lebanese flags. In reality, the video has nothing to do with Nasrallah's death.
For those in a hurry
- The video is widely shared on social networks and also filmed by journalists.
- The scene filmed dates back to 2020 during the January protests.
- The girl posted a warning about fake news circulating through the inappropriate use of her old video.
Analytics
The video is circulating among many others, also attributed to Lebanon and Iran:
Journalist Mariano Giustino also shares the current video (also via reel):
It's a party! Let's sing! Let's dance! Fireworks explode across the Middle East. But do they show you these things in #Italy? No? So I'm going to show them to you, because they are the most beautiful things that are happening in the Middle East, in this Middle East which has been described to you from a single point of view: that of the horrible regimes which subjugate it. Please! Tell the media to broadcast images of jubilation from the Middle East, tell the media to give a voice to the people of the Middle East! The Middle East rejoices in the fall of terrorist leaders! Tell the useful idiots who in the West declare themselves alongside #Hamas and #Hezbollah, in the #USA and #Europe that the people of the Middle East can't take it anymore and want to free themselves from these bloody dictatorships. Updates coming soon…Radio Radicale #Israel #Iran #Lebanon #Turkey
Video of 2020 and the denial of the young girl
This cannot be a celebration in Lebanon of Nasrallah's death. The video was filmed in January 2020, as evidenced by the post from the following account on TikTok:
The date of the video, January 19, 2020, coincides with the demonstrations and clashes of those days in Beirut. The same girl in the video and owner of the TikTok account explains it:
Friends, beware of all fake posts and don't believe everything they share. They used a very old video of me from 2020, claiming it showed me and my friends celebrating the assassination of a political figure.
JUST TO CLARIFY: THE VIDEO IS OLD, FROM THE LEBANON REVOLUTION, AND I DO NOT LIVE IN LEBANON CURRENTLY.
Conclusions
The video in no way shows a celebration in Lebanon following Nasrallah's death. This is a scene filmed in 2020, as explained by the same girl filmed in the clip who had to defend herself against the inappropriate use of these images.
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