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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Prashant Kishor starts fast unto death to press demand for BPSC exam cancellation
Patna, Jan 2: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday announced that he was commencing a fast unto death to press the demand for cancellation of the recently held Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) exam.
Kishor made the announcement at the historic Gandhi Maidan, a couple of kilometres from the spot where several aggrieved candidates have been on a round-the-clock protest for nearly two weeks.
"My demands include cancellation of the exam and holding of fresh tests. I also seek action against corrupt officials who had allegedly put posts, to be filled by the exams, on sale," Kishor told reporters.
On Monday, shortly after a delegation of protesters met Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, Kishor had said he would wait for "48 hours" and intensify the stir if the Nitish Kumar government failed to take any action on the alleged paper leak for the Combined Competitive Exams held on December 13 last year.
