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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

Fact CrescendoWar & conflict

Claim: Terrorist trained Boys and Elder man arrested in Kolkata

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a social-media post claiming that 63 people, including boys who had received terrorist training, were arrested in Kolkata. It describes the post as showing four images: guns arranged on a sofa, a police official speaking, weapons on a table, and an elderly Muslim man being escorted. The review says the post offered no date or supporting evidence for the alleged Kolkata arrests.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturWar & conflict

Ein Artikel auf der Webseite "michael-mannheimer.net" behauptet, Israel habe zugegeben, die Terrororganisation Islamischer Staat (IS) mit Waffen unterstützt zu haben. Das Land habe "langjährige Militärhilfe für den IS" geleistet, heißt es dort

Publisher’s rating: In dem Interview, auf das sich der Artikel bezieht, wird die Terrororganisation "Islamischer Staat" nirgendwo erwähnt. Dass Israel syrische Rebellengruppen mit Waffen unterstützt hat, bedeutet nicht, dass Waffen an den "Islamischen Staat" gingen.

The claim concerns an article on michael-mannheimer.net that said Israel had admitted to providing weapons to the Islamic State (IS). The dpa fact-check examined the interview cited by that article: former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot spoke to the Sunday Times in January 2019 about Israeli support for Syrian rebel groups. The dpa reports that Eizenkot described supplying “light weapons” for “self-defense,” and says the interview does not mention IS. That distinction is central to the claim. The article’s cited interview, as described in the fact-check, concerns support for Syrian rebel groups; it does not establish that those weapons went to IS. The dpa also notes that rebel groups in Syria fought the government, IS, and one another, so the fact that Israel supported some rebels does not identify them as IS or demonstrate that IS received weapons. The fact-check describes additional reporting about Israeli contacts with rebel groups, including Fursan al-Julan, and says a 2017 Wall Street Journal article reported that about 400 fighters bought weapons with Israeli funds. It also cites a 2015 Times of Israel report on conditions attached to Israeli medical assistance for rebels. These details concern support for rebel groups, not evidence in the cited interview that Israel armed IS.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturWar & conflict

Ein Artikel auf der Webseite "anonymousnews.ru" behauptet, in den sogenannten Rheinwiesenlagern hätten die Alliierten 1945 einen "vergessenen Völkermord" begangen. "Von 3.250.000 Gefangenen ließen die Alliierten rechts und links des Rheins rund 2 Millionen vorsätzlich verhungern", heißt es in dem Text. Es handele sich um "das größte Verbrechen der Menschheitsgeschichte"

Publisher’s rating: Anders als einige Rechtsextremisten sprechen renommierte Historiker nicht von einem "Völkermord" in den Rheinwiesenlagern. Die Opferzahlen liegen um ein Vielfaches niedriger. Experten zufolge starben mehrere Tausend Menschen in den Lagern, viele von ihnen aufgrund der elenden Bedingungen

FACTLYWar & conflict

The terrorist with BSF jawans in the image confessed that RSS sponsored him weapons and funds to kill Hindus.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigates a social-media post that identified the man pictured with two security personnel as a terrorist caught in Kashmir and claimed he said RSS had supplied weapons and funds to kill Hindus. It identifies the man as Abdul Qayum, an activist of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and says he was arrested in 2016 while attempting to cross the International Border in Pragwal Sector, Akhnoor, Jammu district. The review therefore addresses the person and claim in the image, rather than a similarly worded but separate incident. [S1: “The man arrested is Abdul Qayum, an activist of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was arrested in 2016 when he tried to cross the International Border at Pragwal Sector of Akhnoor area (Jammu district).”] To check the image’s provenance, the review says it performed a reverse image search and found a DNA news report showing the same image. According to the review’s account of that report, Qayum was arrested by BSF troops while trying to cross the border, and interrogation linked his training to LeT. The cited account did not report an RSS confession. [S1: “On a simple reverse image search, a news report of ‘DNA’ with the same image was found. From the article, it was found that BSF troops have arrested Abdul Qayum, an activist of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), when he tried to cross the International Border at Pragwal Sector of Akhnoor area of Jammu district.”] The review distinguishes those reported LeT connections from the specific allegation about RSS: it says officials’ investigation did not establish RSS sponsorship, and that the DNA article contained no mention of an RSS confession. Its conclusion is thus based on the reported account of Qayum’s arrest and interrogation, not merely on identifying him as a militant. The supplied excerpt does not include the underlying DNA article itself, so these details are available here through the review’s description of that reporting. [S1: “During investigation by officials, he hasn’t revealed that RSS had sponsored him weapons and funds for his activities.”] [S1: “But, in the article, there was no mention of Qayum confessing about links with the RSS.”]

Satya Priya BNWar & conflict

Video shows US anti-missile system bringing down Iranian missiles

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review concerns a video shared after Iran’s January 8, 2020 missile attack on Iraqi military bases housing US troops. The post claimed that a US automatic missile-defense system brought down nearly all the missiles; the review says the video was presented as showing missiles failing to reach the ground and causing no damage. It distinguishes that footage from the actual attack, rather than disputing that the attack happened. [S1: “After this event, a video is going viral on both Twitter and Facebook claiming that 'Iran fired 12 missiles at an American base in Iraq...old story. News report that - Iranian missiles missed. What is not talked about is the US automatic missile defense system that took almost all of them down.' This video shows that none of the missiles could reach the ground and thus no damage was done.”] NewsMeter reports that it used reverse-image searches on keyframes from the video, along with keyword searches, to investigate its origin. It found the footage on a Japanese YouTube channel under a title describing a Phalanx system shooting down a Tomahawk missile, and reports that the video had been uploaded in June 2019—months before the January 2020 attack. [S1: “Newsmeter performed a Reverse image search in Google and Yandex, using the keyframes extracted from the video with help of Invid tool. By performing Keyword search, we found a video on a Japanese Youtube channel has uploaded this video by the name 'The moment of shooting down the phalanx Tomahawk cruise missile Sius' in Japanese. This video was uploaded by the channel on June 24, 2019.”] The review identifies the footage as computer-generated imagery from a video game, not a recording of the Iran attack. It also cites reporting of injuries to US soldiers at the Iraqi base, contradicting the post’s implication that the missiles caused no damage. Together, the earlier video provenance and the reported injuries support the review’s conclusion that this clip does not show US defenses intercepting Iranian missiles in the claimed event. [S1: “The video contains Computer generated Imagery and NOT real-life situation. We also found various news articles reporting injuries to the soldiers present in the Iraqian military base, they shared traumatic pictures of the attack indicating that Iranian missiles indeed damaged the military base hurting the US soldiers based there.”]

The QuintWar & conflict

Radical Islamic Group attacked ISKCON temple in Bangladesh

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim attached a video to an allegation that a “Radical Islamic group” had attacked the ISKCON Netrakona Muktarpara Temple in Bangladesh. The Quint checked the account with ISKCON management and Bangladeshi police, and also consulted a complaint filed by the temple’s management. Those sources described the incident as a dispute over property, not a communal attack. According to Jagat Guru Das, a joint secretary of ISKCON Temple in Bangladesh, the temple had won a legal case to occupy the land in 2015, upsetting people in the area. The complaint said a family had been living in a room on the temple grounds and that a disagreement arose after the family began construction or renovation work. The review reports that ISKCON’s Bangladesh representative said the matter had since been settled and there was peace in the area. The police account added an important qualification: the Additional Superintendent of Police said the land at issue did not belong to ISKCON, and that police were investigating because they were not convinced by the papers ISKCON had shown them. The review also reports that police had taken action but made no arrests. Thus, the sources support the review’s conclusion that the video’s communal framing was incorrect, while the competing claims about land ownership remained under investigation.

NewtralWar & conflict

Vídeo de una base estadounidense en Irak interceptando misiles iraníes

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined footage shared on Facebook as showing Iran attacking a U.S. base in Iraq. Its review says the video was not real footage of that event. To trace the video’s origin, the investigators used reverse-image searches on several frames and found a YouTube upload by a Japanese user, which the review says had been posted on June 24. The upload’s description identified the scene as a simulation involving a Phalanx CIWS and a Tomahawk missile in Arma 3. Newtral then contacted Bohemia Interactive, the company that sells Arma 3. The company said it was sure the footage had been recorded by one of its players, and explained that players can modify the game and create custom scenarios. It qualified that conclusion: the clip appeared to show a modified game and player-made scenario, rather than the standard Arma 3 experience. The review also notes that the video ends with Japanese text describing it as fiction and saying its characters, names and events have no relation to reality. Taken together, the video’s traced provenance, the game company’s confirmation and the on-screen fiction notice support the conclusion that the footage does not document an actual Iranian missile attack or interception at a U.S. base in Iraq. The review says similar Arma 3 images had previously been shared as real, but does not provide further details about that earlier case in the supplied excerpt.