No, these pictures do not show the Houthi attacks on Riyadh King Khalid Airport

In recent days, Houthi rebels from Yemen have claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, resulting in at least 16 deaths. Social media platforms have been flooded with videos purportedly showing the attacks, but fact-checkers have discovered that several of these videos are not genuine and are in fact AI-generated.

One video with 1.7 million views on X claims to show the moment of the attack at the airport. However, frame-by-frame analysis reveals inconsistencies indicating it was AI-generated. For instance, people run towards an exit during an explosion, seemingly through a glass door, an action that is implausible. Additionally, at 10 seconds into the video, an image of a hand holding a smartphone appears on a man's head, a phenomenon that does not occur in reality.

Another video, shared over 2.9 million times on X, also appears to be AI-generated. Meta's AI identification tool detects AI signatures in the video, confirming its creation using generative AI. The video's authenticity can be traced back to a photograph found in a stock photo database Shutterstock in 2016. The video contains visual inconsistencies, such as a light pole without attached lamps, and a vehicle appearing and changing shape unexpectedly upon the supposed missile strike.

A TikTok post with over 301,000 views claims that the footage was recorded "just now" from inside Riyadh Airport. However, this video had already circulated online in March, months before the reported attack. The video exhibits visual anomalies, such as blurry parts, merging figures, and red lights switching on before the explosion. Furthermore, people are seen walking directly through queue barriers and running through barriers that end mid-air.

A fourth video, reported on TikTok with over 500,000 views, purports to cover attacks on both Riyadh and Abha airports. Google Gemini analysis revealed that at least part of this video was generated using Google AI tools, as evidenced by a SynthID watermark in the video. The video was also shared on Facebook, where it received over 157,000 views. The account that shared this video frequently posts AI-generated content, and it is explicitly labeled as AI-generated content.