2022 footage of Taliban clash with Pakistani military distorted as Hezbollah attack on Israeli soldiers
Thai PBS Verify found the piece of disinformation on: X
Thai PBS Verify flagged a post from an X user ‘Daily Iran News,’ showing a video of soldiers being killed in an armored vehicle. The post claimed it was recent footage of Hezbollah eliminating Israeli forces in Lebanon, with the text reading:
“🚨 UPDATES:
“Historic footage reportedly shows a carefully planned ambush carried out by Hezbollah fighters against an Israeli military vehicle in southern Lebanon.
“Reports claim more than 10 Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack.”
The post was published on May 19, 2026, and has since reached over 30,000 views. Following its dissemination, some users commented expressing their belief that the incident actually occurred.
The video of the ambush in Lebanon is real, but decontextualized
Thai PBS Verify used Google Lens reverse image search to verify the clip and found a match with a 2022 video of Pakistani soldiers being killed on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The original content was posted on X on October 16, 2022, by Malik Ali Raza.
The original post of the video, released on October 16, 2022.
The video was accompanied by a caption that reads: “TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) terrorist attack on Pakistan Army. Video released by TTP media.”
Moreover, this footage had already been flagged by the Arab fact-checking website, Misbar, and the Pakistani media network, Express Tribune. Both outlets confirmed the video’s 2022 origin, ruling out any connection to the recent operations by Hezbollah against the Israeli military in Lebanon. This reaffirms that the video is neither related to Lebanon nor a recent event.
Published on October 16, 2022, the original content documents an incident where Pakistani soldiers were killed near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
What is the TTP?
According to the United Nations Security Council, TTP stands for Tehrik-e-Taliban, officially known as ‘Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’ and often referred to locally as the ‘Taliban.’ It is recognized as the largest militant organization challenging state authority in Pakistan. A report by the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team estimates that the TTP commands between 6,000 and 6,500 fighters, making it the largest terrorist group currently operating in Afghanistan. The group receives operational and logistical support from both the Afghan Taliban and the Al-Qaeda network. Recently, the TTP has escalated its attacks, maintaining thousands of fighters and establishing strongholds on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
Despite being weakened from 2014 to 2018 by Pakistani military campaigns, U.S. drone strikes, and internal conflicts, the TTP made a major comeback after the February 2020 peace deal between the US and the Afghan Taliban. Since July 2020, the group has absorbed ten militant factions opposed to Pakistan, including three Al-Qaeda branches and four main splinter groups that left the TTP in 2014. This merger led to a dramatic rise in TTP violence, a trend that worsened after the Afghan Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021.
The TTP background from the UN Security Council.
What is the current situation in Lebanon?
On May 15, 2026, both sides agreed to a U.S.-backed 45-day ceasefire extension to clear the path for new talks in early June. However, fighting and violations have continued in practice, with both sides still clashing and launching retaliatory attacks in many areas.
A BBC report on May 17, 2026, revealed that an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon left six dead, including three emergency medical personnel, amid the U.S. claims that both sides had agreed to a 45-day ceasefire. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that another medical worker was severely wounded following a strike on a civil defense center in Harouf. In a statement to the BBC, the Israeli military maintained that it had “identified” and “eliminated” two “Hezbollah terrorists,” stating that “efforts were made to minimize civilian casualties.”
Meanwhile, figures from the Lebanese Health Ministry on May 15, 2026, show that the country’s Health Emergency Operations Center has recorded 2,951 deaths and 8,988 injuries since the onset of the aggression on March 2 through May 15.
Data reported by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on May 15, 2026.
What is the truth?
A video currently circulating with claims that it shows recent events in Lebanon is completely false. In fact, it is old footage from a conflict in another country that is entirely unrelated to Israel or Lebanon. The details are as follows:
- The real incident: The footage captures the TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) terrorist group, or the Pakistani Taliban, ambushing a vehicle belonging to the Pakistani army’s security forces near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
- The facts on timing: This video is not a new development from 2026. It actually dates back to October 16, 2022, when it was posted by X user Malik Ali Raza, who specified that the content was produced by the TTP’s own media network.
Verification Process
- Reverse image search: By analyzing video frames using Google Lens, researchers located the original database containing the historical footage, which matches the 2022 TTP attack on Pakistani soldiers.
- Translation and contextual analysis: The English post by X account ‘Daily Iran News’ on May 19, 2026, attempted to distort the facts by linking the video to southern Lebanon, though the visuals and the text do not match.
- Cross-checking: The clip was previously investigated and exposed as old footage by Misbar, a prominent Arab fact-checking platform, and The Express Tribune, a leading Pakistani media house. Both organizations reached the same conclusion: the video was originally published in 2022.
Potential impacts of disinformation
The manipulated clip has spread widely, creating a significant impact in a sensitive wartime environment.
- Misleading an international audience: This post gained over 30,000 views in a short period, and many social media users believed it to be factual. This trend threatens to incite hatred or be weaponized as part of an information warfare strategy.
- Intensifying an already volatile situation: The reality is that Lebanon and Israel had just agreed to a 45-day ceasefire extension on May 15, 2026. Although this truce has been marred by ongoing violations and casualties on both sides, including the tragic attack in Harouf that left six dead, weaponizing an old clip to inflate death tolls actively disrupts peace processes and fuels public anxiety.
The comment section of the post in question.
What to do with this misinformation?
- Stop and think before sharing: When exposed to intense clips depicting casualties or military offensives, hesitate before hitting share or leaving a comment. These videos are often repurposed to harvest views or achieve political leverage.
- Check the source diligently: Evaluate whether the publisher is a highly credible mainstream media outlet—such as BBC or Reuters—or merely an unverified personal profile with no official standing.
- Observe contextual irregularities: False information often relies on sensationalized captions, yet fails to provide specific, verifiable details regarding the date, time, or exact location of the incident.
- Utilize fact-checking resources: When in doubt, ensure you cross-check the claims via reputable fact-checking platforms like Thai PBS Verify, CoFact, or the IFCN network websites prior to believing the content.
