Iran has pressed on with sustained missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region, despite repeated protests from its neighbours, in ongoing retaliation in the war launched by the United States and Israel.
Amidst this, a video that is going viral on social media purports to show soldiers being evacuated from a United States airbase in Kuwait in the aftermath of Iranian attacks. The viral video depicts soldiers sitting on the ground while receiving instructions. They subsequently form several lines before boarding buses, creating the impression of a well-organized evacuation.
The caption of the post states, “The U.S. Air Base in Kuwait is being evacuated. In today’s footage, it is clear that U.S. forces are leaving Kuwaiti soil. This shows that Iran has succeeded in achieving its goal”.
Fact check:
Our investigation began with a reverse image search of key frames from the viral video, which led us to a similar video uploaded by the official handle of the 197th Infantry Brigade on Instagram on 20 December, 2024.
The caption of the video indicates that it features soldiers and trainees departing for the holidays. The Sledgehammer Brigade collaborated with the 198th Infantry Brigade to arrange and facilitate the transportation of all trainees and soldiers from Sand Hill at Fort Moore to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.
This indicates that the viral video was available on the internet prior to the recent tensions in the Middle East, and it is unrelated to the current conflict.
Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found a report published on the USO Southeast website on 20 December 2024. According to the report, thousands of soldiers training at various US military bases travel home to visit their families during holiday block leave. That year, more than 35,000 soldiers from 20 military installations across the country travelled home for the holidays via plane, train, bus, and car. More than 11,000 of these soldiers travelled through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
During our investigation, we also found a news story related to this video on the website of Fox 5 Atlanta. The report stated that thousands of US soldiers training at Fort Moore, Georgia, were traveling home for leave and passed through the Atlanta airport. The report stated that more than 8,500 trainees left Fort Moore to visit family and friends in various parts of the country.
So, taking account of all this evidence, we can say that this video is not related to the recent conflict in the Middle East.
Conclusion
Fact crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. The video shows US soldiers leaving for holidays in Georgia in 2024. It is not related to the current Iran-Israel war.
Title: Old and unrelated video going viral as US Army evacuating an airbase in Kuwait after Iranian attacks.
Fact Check By: Usha Manoj
Result: Misleading
