Video is Not Indian Helicopter Shot Down by Nepal
The Claim
A video depicts Nepal shooting down an Indian helicopter and capturing its pilot.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video that has no sound and shows a military helicopter being shot down midair has been doing rounds since the beginning of July, alongside a claim that it shows Nepal shooting down an Indian military helicopter that crossed the Nepalese border.
Regards Nepal: Today, Indian airforces had crossed the border to conduct airstrikes on the Nepal territories. India contacted an airstrike in Belahiya. In the resulting, we've shot down one Indian HAL Rudra and captured one Indian pilot. Now We'll not return pilot to india 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/6FjCSRlBOQ
— Murtaza Khalid (@iamurtazakhalid) July 3, 2020
Today #Indianairforce crossed the border to conduct airstrikes on the #Nepal territory. #India contacted an airstrike in Belahiya. In the resulting #Nepal shot down one Indian HAL Rudra and captured one Indian pilot#Loc #Lac #PLA #Galwan #laddakh #indianmedia #pakarmy #pakistan pic.twitter.com/hHXPhBFCSV
— صحرہ است کے دریا است ، تھے بال و پر ما است- (@Fahadchauhdary) July 2, 2020
Nepal shot down Indian Hel ..
— Najib Ahmed (@NajibAh82251349) July 3, 2020
Today, Indian airforces crossed Nepalian border to conduct airstrikes on the Nepalian territories. One of Indian HAL Rudra Helicopter was shot and captured one Indian pilot. Nepal announced not to return pilot to india. pic.twitter.com/EqwKczVzDJ
The video was also posted by a Twitter account with the name "Irmak Idoya," which attracted hundreds of likes and retweets to the video. The account claimed that Indian media is covering this up but later removed the tweet.
The circulating claim comes amid reports of recent political tensions between India and Nepal that led to some border wrangling between the two countries in the past few months.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation found out that the claim is false. The circulating video actually shows Syrian rebels shooting down a Syrian military helicopter back in 2012, in a video that was published by The Telegraph on Oct 17, 2012.
According to the video's description, “Rebels downed a helicopter on Wednesday as troops fought to take back a key Syrian town, a watchdog said, as international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned the conflict risks setting the region ablaze. Fighting for control of the Damascus-Aleppo highway raged around the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan even as Brahimi appeared to have won tentative support for a ceasefire proposal.”
We also found no credible news reporting about any recent India-Nepal helicopter involoving incidents.
