Fact Check: Houthi rebels attack Israel’s Ashkelon power plant? No, video is from Saudi Arabia
Claim: The video shows a massive fire at Israel’s Ashkelon power plant after an attack.
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows a fire at the Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, following a Houthi attack in March 2022.
Hyderabad: A video is being widely shared on social media with the claim that it shows a massive fire at Israel’s Ashkelon power plant due to a planned attack.
An X user shared the video with the caption: “The most powerful scene: The burning of the Ashkelon station reminds us of the days of Aramco. Israel turns off its lights.” ( Archive )
The 11-second clip shows massive flames rising from a structure resembling a power plant.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim was false. The video was old and showed a fire at the Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
A reverse image search led us to a video uploaded on YouTube in a video report by Al Arabiya on March 26, 2022. The text on the video read: ‘Scenes of fire breaking out at the Aramco station in Jeddah after it was attacked’ (translated from Arabic).
The viral video closely matched visuals from the Al Arabiya report, which confirmed that the fire occurred at Saudi Aramco’s oil depot in Jeddah after a Houthi attack.
Further keyword search led us to a Guardian report titled ‘Fire breaks out at Jeddah oil depot before Saudi Arabia Grand Prix’, dated March 25, 2002
The article reported that the fire erupted at the depot days before the Saudi Grand Prix, following an attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Similar images were included in this report, confirming the location.
A report from Reuters and CNBC confirmed that the visuals were from the Aramco facility in Jeddah, not Israel’s Ashkelon power plant.
Therefore, the viral claim that the video shows an attack on Israel's Ashkelon power plant is false. The video is from March 2022 and shows a fire at Saudi Aramco’s oil depot in Jeddah after a Houthi missile strike.
(This story was originally published by newsmeter, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
