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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

In einem Facebook-Post wird eine Liste mit Ereignissen in der Golfregion verbreitet und behauptet, deutsche Medien hätten diese "größtenteils" verschwiegen. Auf der Liste finden sich ein US-Angriff in Bagdad, bei dem ein iranischer General getötet wurde, sowie mehrere iranische Attacken - darunter der Abschuss einer US-Drohne, Angriffe auf Öltanker und die Attacke auf Öl-Anlagen in Saudi-Arabien

Publisher’s rating: Die Medien in Deutschland haben in großem Umfang über die genannten Vorfälle berichtet.

The Facebook post alleged that German media had “largely” kept a list of Gulf-region events from the public. The list included the US killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, the downing of a US drone, attacks on oil tankers and the attack on Saudi oil facilities. The dpa review checked the allegation against examples of German-language reporting on those events. Its examples span May 2019 to January 2020. For the May attacks on four commercial ships, which damaged two Saudi tankers, it points to coverage by Der Spiegel and Zeit online. It identifies Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on Iran’s June 2019 downing of a US reconnaissance drone, and Zeit and Welt coverage of Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker in July. For the September 2019 drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, the review cites tagesschau.de and ZDF. It also names Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the December 2019 storming of the US embassy in Iraq, and Bayerischer Rundfunk and RTL on the January 2020 US killing of Soleimani. These examples directly counter the post’s claim of broad concealment: the review documents reporting by multiple German outlets across the listed incidents. It also notes that coverage of the conflict’s subsequent developments appeared at Deutschlandfunk and Deutsche Welle.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Casualties in the recent attacks of Iran on American forces in Iraq.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned videos and photographs circulated as showing casualties from Iran’s 8 January 2020 attacks on Iraqi bases housing US forces. FACTLY’s review examined the specific images in the social-media post and concluded they did not depict those attacks. It reports that Iran launched the attacks in retaliation for a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. [S1]

NewtralWar & conflict

Vídeo del ataque de EE.UU. contra el general iraní Qasem Soleimani

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a black-and-white video circulated online as footage of the U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Newtral reports that viewers asked about the video, which shows several vehicles being attacked, and that social-media posts presented it as the Soleimani attack. The review distinguishes the real event from the video being used to illustrate it: it says the U.S. attack took place in the early hours of January 3, while the footage in question came from a video game.

台灣事實查核中心War & conflict

網傳與媒體報導「台海危機時，沈一鳴陪同國防部長與太平洋司令會談，美方詢問他的立場為何，沈一鳴回應美方：『台灣會戰到一兵一卒』」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The review examined a claim that, during the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, Shen Yi-ming accompanied Taiwan’s defense minister to meet the U.S. Pacific commander, who asked Shen about his position, and that Shen replied Taiwan would fight to the last soldier. It concluded that the reported meeting was inconsistent with the political and military relationship between Taiwan and the United States at the time. The review’s conclusion specifically concerns the alleged meeting; it does not establish who first used the fighting-to-the-last-soldier wording. The investigation interviewed Shuai Hua-min, who had served as a lieutenant general and executive officer in Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense Operations and Plans Office during the crisis. Shuai said he was the Taiwanese military representative in the secret communications channel with the U.S. and described meeting U.S. defense officials in Washington. He said the U.S. would not have met Taiwan’s defense minister under its then-current one-China policy. The review also reported that former Washington representative-office official Huang Chieh-cheng, who had helped receive Taiwanese officials and participated in some meetings, said he had not seen Shen there. The review also included assessments of Shen’s likely position at the time. Military affairs editor Shih Hsiao-wei and senior military reporter Lü Chao-lung said Shen was then an air force lieutenant colonel and associated with preparations for the French Mirage 2000 aircraft, making the claimed senior-level diplomatic role implausible. Separately, Shuai and Huang questioned whether a junior officer would have been asked to state Taiwan’s position in such a meeting. These points support the review’s skepticism about the story but are not direct proof of every detail of Shen’s movements. On the quoted phrase, the review found that it was a familiar kind of military declaration and could not establish its origin or identify every person who had used it. It cited a 2019 Legislative Yuan exchange in which Defense Minister Yen Teh-fa agreed with a legislator’s formulation that the armed forces would fight to the last soldier. The review later corrected its discussion to clarify that it could not determine the phrase’s provenance; that limitation does not substantiate the specific attribution to Shen.

NewtralWar & conflict

Imágenes reales pero antiguas o fuera de contexto: la desinformación del conflicto Iran-EE.UU.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review addresses a wave of posts circulating amid the January 2020 Iran–U.S. tensions. After Iran fired missiles at two bases in Iraq on January 8, some online posts used photos and videos to depict that attack or other alleged strikes. The investigation checked several examples and found that the material did not establish the events those posts claimed it showed. The review says the January 8 attack targeted the Ain al-Asad and Erbil bases, and that the posts included claims about casualties and images presented as related to the recent strikes. [S1: “Tras el ataque de Irán a las bases de Ain al Asad y Erbil y en medio de la espiral de tensión entre ambos países, las redes sociales se han llenado de vídeos, imágenes y artículos descontextualizados y falsos.”] For one viral photograph, the accompanying post claimed that Iraq had attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on January 5, killing civilians. Newtral identifies the image as an Associated Press photograph by Loay Hameed from August 2019, showing an Israeli strike on an arsenal in Baghdad linked to an Iran-backed militia—not a recent Iraqi government attack on the embassy. The review separately notes that protesters damaged the embassy building during demonstrations against U.S. airstrikes, a different event from the alleged missile attack. [S1: “La imagen pertenece al fotógrafo de la Associated Press Loay Hameed y es de agosto de 2019.”] [S1: “Sin embargo, a finales de año y durante los primeros días de enero, centenares de personas se manifestaron en contra de los ataques aéreos estadounidenses en el país, infligiendo daños en el edificio de la embajada.”] The review also traces other circulated material to earlier or unrelated events: a photo of an explosion in Gaza to November 15, 2019; other missile images to Iranian state television in 2017 and the Associated Press in 2018; a purported Soleimani drone-strike video to a 2014 iOS game; and a video presented as the Iraq attack to footage available online since 2015 and described as filmed in Luhansk, Ukraine. These examples show why the review treats the posts as misleading: images or footage existed, but their provenance and subject did not match the recent Iran–Iraq attack they were used to illustrate. [S1: “La foto no es actual sino que corresponde a 2019 y fue tomada por el fotógrafo Abed Rahim Khatib para la agencia France Presse.”] [S1: “En realidad, el vídeo corresponde a un videojuego de iOS de 2014 llamado AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron.”] [S1: “El mismo vídeo fue subido a YouTube afirmando que fue grabado el 12 de febrero de 2015 en la ciudad de Lugansk, ubicada en el este de Ucrania durante la guerra en la región del Donbás.”]