Video shows ruins in Syria not Gaza

An aerial video of the ruins of buildings is being shared with false claims it shows Gaza “completely destroyed”. 

The clip, which has been shared on Facebook and on X (formerly Twitter), includes several panning shots of scores of buildings which have been damaged or completely gutted, along with empty streets filled with rubble.

A caption with the post says: “This is Gaza, completely destroyed. It looks like hell on Earth.”

But the video clip is not from Gaza, or connected to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

It is actually from Syria. Text in Arabic which is overlaid on the video says (when translated to English by Google Lens): “Aerial shots of the town of Zamalka in the Damascus countryside.”

The same footage was published by Syria TV, a Syrian television network based in Istanbul, Turkey, on 16 December. 

Descriptions of the video shared on Instagram and on Youtube by the channel, say (when translated to English): “Aerial footage of the town of Zamalka in the Damascus countryside shows the massive destruction of its buildings.”

Zamalka was one of the rebel-held towns in the Ghouta district of Damascus attacked by the Syrian regime in 2013, which was accused of using the nerve agent sarin gas to kill civilians. It was repeatedly bombed in the years that followed. 

In 2018 the UN assessed that Zamalka had the third highest rate of damage in the Eastern Ghouta area, with nearly 60% of buildings damaged or destroyed. 

We have previously fact checked other videos and images from Syria, that were miscaptioned as being from Gaza.

Before sharing media online it’s important to consider whether what you are seeing is accurate and genuine—our guides to verifying misleading images and videos can help you do this.