Image of plane landing near explosion is AI

An image supposedly showing a plane landing at an airport in Beirut, Lebanon during recent Israeli airstrikes has been shared with claims it shows a “photo for the history books”. But it’s not a genuine photo—it was created using artificial intelligence (AI). 

The image shows an airborne plane with flames and smoke visible in the background. Multiple Facebook posts have the caption: “A photo for the history books. MEA airline landing in Beirut International Airport as Israeli [sic] rains fire on the airport,” referring to Middle East Airlines (MEA). 

While there is genuine footage showing explosions and smoke close to Beirut’s airport in recent weeks, this particular image is not a real photo. 

A reverse image search shows it was shared by an Instagram account called ‘Eyes of Lebanon’ on 20 October alongside another image showing a grounded plane also with an explosion in the background. It has the caption: “There [sic] are AI generated photos depicting the real situation Via @south.to.north”. 

This user directed us to another Instagram account called @south.to.north as the source of the images, though the images do not appear on the page of this account. This second account confirmed to Full Fact that they had created the image using AI tools to “depict the situation” in Lebanon but that they had since removed them. 

A closer look at the image shared on Facebook shows the MEA logo on the plane differs from genuine photos of MEA planes, as other fact checkers have pointed out. The red ribbon on the fuselage is shorter and more closely resembles the livery of an Emirates plane, and the red part at the top of the tail on MEA planes normally doesn’t go right to the top as it does in the AI image. 

Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit an industrial area 500 metres from Beirut airport buildings on 28 September and there have been reports of other strikes near the airport since then. 

Middle East Airlines is the only commercial airline operating out of this airport at the time of writing. 

We’ve seen other images almost certainly made using AI being shared in relation to events in the Middle East, including images supposedly showing Israeli soldiers taken prisoner by Hezbollah and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a ventilator. You can find more of our work debunking claims relating to the Middle East on our website.