Video of Downed Ethiopian Helicopter Is From 2020 in Syria
The Claim
A video depicts a downed Ethiopian helicopter by the Tigray Defence Force.
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Emerging story
A video of a helicopter burning in the air and spiraling down is making the rounds on social media. According to the accompanying claim, the Ethiopian helicopter was shot down in the Afar region by the Tigray Defence Force (TDF).
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the video and found it to be misleading. Still images from the video were used to conduct a reverse image search on Google. Using the results, The Telegraph's Youtube channel posted a video on February 11, 2020, identical to the video in the claim, as shown below.
According to the claim, the video's audio was dubbed to Ethiopian music and people speaking in Amharic in order to mislead people. The audio in the original is different.
On the same day, an article titled "Syrian government helicopter downed as troops take strategic highway" was also published online. According to the report, rebels in Eastern Idlib shot down a Syrian army helicopter with missiles on board. The Guardian and Al Jazeera both report on the downed helicopter on February 11.
The claim appears to have been sparked by a tweet from the verified account of Getachew K. Reda, who is an advisor to the President of Tigray, according to his Twitter profile.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, there is a complete lack of communication and restrictions on the media, making it impossible to verify the reports. However, the Misbar team can confirm that the video in the claim is unrelated to Ethiopia and dates from early February 2020 in Syria.
