Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed that launched a missile attack on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on May 31, 2024. Washington has not confirmed that the aircraft carrier was the target.
The Iran-backed Huthis, who control much of Yemen, have carried out several drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, claiming solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on X that the move was in response to 16 people killed and more than 40 injured in Yemen’s port city of Hodeida alone, including an unspecified number of civilians.
The figure announced by the Huthis, which AFP could not independently verify, would make the attacks some of the deadliest since the US and Britain launched their campaign in January against disruption of the vital trade route.
Similar posts sharing manipulated images have racked up more than two million views after being shared on X here It is here, YouTubeand on Weibo.
The claim was also shared on English It is Thai while the AFP had already unmasked similar posts in Arabic.
Washington, however, rejected claims that the ship was damaged or hit, according to reports from the CBS News and the Voice of America (archived links here It is here).
Manipulated image
AFP found the image circulating matches Google Earth satellite images taken on April 10, 2023, Norfolk Naval Station in the US state of Virginia, home to the US Navy’s largest concentration of naval forces (file link here It is here).
No holes were visible in the ship’s deck in the Google Earth image.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the image in the fake posts (left) and the corresponding Google Earth image (right) with the manipulated element highlighted by AFP:
A Google reverse image search using a keyframe from the clip’s 13-second markwhen the supposed hole is enlarged, matches an image posted on a US-based photo website Shutter (archived link).
The photo was mirrored and digitally added to the satellite images.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the supposed hole in the ship (left) and the horizontally flipped photo (right):
AFP debunks more false claims about Huthi attacks in the Red Sea here, here It is here.
