Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Israeli army has continued to conduct incursions in southern Syria in addition to carrying out hundreds of airstrikes on military sites. In this context, social media pages and accounts circulated a video claimed to show Israeli tanks invading an area in southern Syria amid a crowd of residents filming with their phones. However, this video was actually filmed in the occupied West Bank.

The video shows several men and young people taking pictures with their phones of tanks flying the Israeli flag advancing among them. Comments accompanying the video claimed it was filmed in southern Syria.

The video’s spread comes amid Israeli army incursions since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8 last year into areas inside the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, located on the edges of the occupied part. Its forces occasionally advance into deep southern areas.

Meanwhile, transitional President Ahmad al-Shar emphasizes since taking power that Damascus is not interested in any escalation with its neighbors and will not pose a threat to them.

The Truth About the Video

But the circulated video was not filmed in Syria.

Searching for still frames from the video on search engines shows it was posted more than six months ago on Facebook as filmed in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

This claim is reinforced by a sign visible in the video that reads “Abu Atiya Company and Roastery,” a real establishment in Jenin.

Research also leads to videos with similar scenes published by news agencies and Western media outlets on February 24.

The day before, the Israeli army announced expanding its operations in the occupied West Bank, including deploying a tank unit in Jenin for the first time since the end of the Second Intifada in 2005.

Some elements in the video posted on social media match those published by Reuters news agency.

Arabic fact-checking service, Agence France-Presse