Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 16/1/2024; Author: Nina Đuranović
The complexity of the situation in the Middle East has escalated due to U.S. military forces entering open conflict with Yemen’s Houthi rebel group.
After issuing several weeks of warnings to the Houthis against attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea, U.S. naval and air forces initiated a series of missile strikes. In response, the Yemen-based rebel group launched retaliatory actions.
Some Facebook users have shared a video claiming to show a U.S. warship in flames after being attacked by the Houthis (here and here).
“USS Bonhomme Richard, which was attacked yesterday by Yemeni military forces in the Red Sea,” read a post on Facebook.
A reverse image search of the video’s screenshots reveals that the footage shared on Facebook is not recent; it has been circulating since at least July 2020.
The USS Bonhomme Richard warship caught fire and burned on July 12, 2020, while docked at a base in San Diego. The U.S. Navy ship burned for over four days. After the fire was brought under control, the ship was dismantled due to extensive damage. Numerous global media outlets reported on this event.
Numerous photos and videos show that the USS Bonhomme Richard warship seen in the video caught fire in 2020, after which it underwent reconstruction. This incident is not related to the conflict with the Houthi rebel group from Yemen.
We assess this post as disinformation.
The “Disinformation” rating is given to a media report that contains a “mix” of facts and incorrect or half-true content. In such cases, the media may not necessarily be aware of incorrect information being published alongside the true ones. Also, this grade will be given to media reports with false attributions or titles that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy.
