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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,848 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturWar & conflict

Das Video zeigt eine Frau nach den US-Luftangriffen in Syrien im Februar 2021.

Publisher’s rating: Das Video hat einen anderen Hintergrund. Es wurde bereits im Sommer 2019 in einem anderen Teil Syriens aufgenommen. Zu sehen ist eine Frau, die den damaligen US-Präsidenten Trump auf Englisch anfleht, in den Konflikt in Syrien einzutreten und ihm «Gleichgültigkeit» vorwirft. Grund ist ein Luftangriff auf eine damals von der syrischen Opposition kontrollierte Stadt, mutmaßlich durch syrische und russische Streitkräfte.

The video circulated with a misleading suggestion that it showed a woman responding to US airstrikes in eastern Syria in February 2021 and asking former president Donald Trump to intervene. The review distinguishes that recent event from the video’s actual setting: it reports that the footage was filmed in summer 2019 in Maarat al-Numan, in western Syria, and that the woman was addressing Trump about an earlier attack on the city. The review identifies Rania Kisar as the woman in the video. (S1: “Durch den Text im Video und die Formulierungen in den begleitenden Facebook-Postings entsteht der Eindruck, das Video sei nach den jüngsten US-Luftangriffen auf Ziele im Osten Syriens entstanden und fordere ein Ende solcher Einsätze.”; “Den Angaben zufolge ist die syrische Stadt Maarat al-Numan in der Provinz Idlib zu sehen. Diese liegt im Westen Syriens.”; “Bei der Frau handelt es sich um eine amerikanische Aktivistin namens Rania Kisar”) The review explains that the clip addresses Trump in English and quotes her asking him to stop the violence. It places the footage against the airstrike on Maarat al-Numan on July 22, 2019, when the city was controlled by Syrian rebels. The review says activists reported more than 40 civilian deaths and that observers, including the US State Department, blamed the Syrian government and Russia. It therefore distinguishes the event depicted from the US strike ordered by President Joe Biden in February 2021. (S1: “Die Frau im Video wendet sich auf Englisch an Donald Trump: «Mr. Trump, bitte, bitte, stoppen sie das hier» («Mr. Trump, please, please stop this»).”; “Am 22. Juli 2019 hatte es einen Luftangriff auf die damals noch von syrischen Rebellen kontrollierte Stadt gegeben. Dabei starben nach Angaben von Aktivisten mehr als 40 Zivilisten.”; “Das Video zeigt also keine Reaktion auf den Luftangriff unter US-Präsident Joe Biden - und auch nicht auf einen anderen US-amerikanischen Einsatz, sondern auf mutmaßlich syrische und russische Angriffe.”) To establish the footage’s earlier provenance, the review says the social-media post used only an excerpt from a longer clip published by Bloomberg on July 22, 2019. It also cites an AFP photograph showing rubble and injured people from approximately the location where the video was recorded. The longer clip, according to the review, includes Kisar criticizing the US response to the Syrian civil war and accusing Trump of indifference. (S1: “Auf Facebook kursiert nun lediglich ein Ausschnitt eines längeren Clips, den etwa die Nachrichtenagentur Bloomberg bereits am 22. Juli 2019 veröffentlicht hatte.”; “Ein Foto der Nachrichtenagentur AFP zeigt Trümmer und Verletzte - etwa an der Stelle, an der auch das nun auf Facebook verbreitete Video aufgenommen wurde.”; “Das etwas längere Bloomberg-Video enthält weitere Äußerungen der Frau, die die US-amerikanische Zurückhaltung unter Donald Trump in Bezug auf den syrischen Bürgerkrieg kritisiert.”)

Fact Crescendo CambodiaWar & conflict

អ៊ុយក្រែនបានសម្លាប់ទាហានរុស្ស៊ីចំនួន ៣៥០០នាក់ អំឡុងពេលប្រយុទ្ធគ្នានៅតាមដងផ្លូវ ។

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned a Facebook post saying Ukrainian soldiers had killed 3,500 Russian soldiers in a battle along a road. The post included a photograph of bodies covered in plastic. Fact Crescendo Cambodia investigated whether the photograph showed Russian soldiers killed in the fighting, rather than whether the reported death toll could be independently established. The review describes the post as claiming that “Ukrainian soldiers have killed as many as 3,500 Russian soldiers as both sides clashed in a battle along a road.” To trace the image, the reviewers say they used Google Reverse Image Search. Their search led them to an older Sydney Morning Herald article, which identified the bodies in the photograph as passengers from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, not Russian soldiers. The review also says it found the image in Reuters photography, captioned as showing Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry members handling the passengers’ bodies near the crash site. The review places the image in the context of the MH17 crash on July 17, 2014, near Hrabove village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. It reports that the flight was carrying 298 people and that all 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed. Thus, the photograph does not substantiate the Facebook post’s account of Russian battlefield deaths: it depicts victims of the 2014 aircraft crash. The review’s image-tracing evidence addresses the photograph’s provenance; the excerpt does not describe a separate verification of the claimed figure of 3,500.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of Indian army soldiers demolishing Chinese bunkers near Pangong lake

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing Indian army soldiers demolishing Chinese bunkers near Pangong lake. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows rescue work following a glacier burst in Uttarakhand: JCBs clearing debris, with ITBP and other organisations searching for people missing after the disaster. The article’s conclusion is that the post misidentifies the scene, not that the footage depicts bunker demolition. The review describes tracing screenshots from the circulating video through reverse image search. That search led to an ANI video dated 15 February 2021, titled “Chamoli disaster: 56 bodies recovered; rescue operation underway.” FACTLY says ANI’s description placed the operation at Raini village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district and identified ITBP personnel working with the NDRF after a flash flood triggered by a glacier burst on 7 February. The review also points to an ITBP tweet thread dated 15 February that shared the same video and described it as a search operation for people missing after the glacier burst. FACTLY says Economic Times separately reported the ANI footage as an Uttarakhand rescue operation. Together, the identified news footage and the matching official description support the conclusion that this video is not evidence of Indian soldiers demolishing Chinese bunkers near Pangong lake.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of the attack on CRPF personnel at Pulwama on 14 February 2019

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY investigated a social-media post presenting a video as showing the attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama on 14 February 2019. The review compared screenshots from the circulating clip with material found through Google reverse image search, then examined an earlier upload of the same visuals. This addressed the video’s provenance, rather than disputing that the Pulwama attack occurred. The review reports finding a YouTube video with the same visuals, titled “VBIED IED SEP 02 2007 camp taji iraq huge explosion,” uploaded on 8 December 2008. It also says the uncropped YouTube version displays a “2007” timestamp, while the version shared on Facebook had been cropped. Those earlier traces place the footage well before the 2019 attack, so it cannot be contemporary video of that event. FACTLY says it could not establish the exact details of where the older footage was recorded. It therefore does not identify the location of the footage with certainty; its conclusion is narrower and rests on the video’s pre-2019 existence and timestamp. The review also notes that the same video had circulated with a similar claim in 2020, before being shared again.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturWar & conflict

Kurz vor Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs sind bei alliierten Bombenangriffen auf Dresden im Februar 1945 Tausende Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Mit massiv übertriebenen Opferzahlen wird immer wieder versucht, die Angriffe als beispiellos hinzustellen. Unter anderem wird behauptet (hier archiviert), am 13. Februar seien damals «300 000 deutsche Zivilisten in Dresden ermordet» worden. Teils werden noch höhere Todeszahlen genannt. Zudem gibt es die Behauptung, in der sächsischen Großstadt seien Menschen rückstandslos verbrannt - dadurch liege die Zahl der Opfer in Wahrheit weit höher.

Publisher’s rating: Wer von Hunderttausenden Toten spricht, übertreibt. Eine Kommission aus etwa einem Dutzend anerkannter Historiker stellte 2010 fest: Bei den Luftangriffen auf Dresden starben nicht mehr als 25 000 Menschen. Dass Leichen ohne jegliche Rückstände in großer Zahl verbrannten, schlossen die Experten aus.