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By Tom Norton
Fact Check Reporter
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Houthi rebels claimed this week to have targeted a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, the latest in a series of attacks the Yemeni group has claimed are a response to Israel's war with the militant group Hamas in Gaza.
The Associated Press reported Houthi claims made on Wednesday that they had targeted the USS Mason and another ship they identified as the Destiny. However, the attack was thought to have happened two days earlier, with U.S. military Central Command saying the Mason had destroyed an anti-ship missile launched by the Houthis.
Nonetheless, a video was shared on social media said to show a missile impact on the Mason, with explosive footage of a boat being torn apart.
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The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter by user @Partisangirl, posted on May 16, 2024, and viewed 944,400 times, included a video of an explosive missile strike on a large sea vessel.
The post stated: "🚨Yemen Houthi forces Score a direct hit in US destroyer 'Mason'. This is all because Biden decided to build a port in Gaza to help Israel genocide Palestine."
The Facts
The video is not of the USS Mason being attacked. The film was shot more than 10 years ago and depicts a missile test strike in Norway on an old Norwegian navy vessel, the KNM Trondheim.
An article from 2013 on Military.com stated the Norweigan navy was testing its four-meter long 880lb "Naval Strike Missile" off the coast of Andoy. The Trondheim was brought back to shore after the strike for examination.
News about the test strike was also reported by The Independent, Yahoo News, and the Daily Mail.
It's not the first time that the footage has been misappropriated. In 2022, fact-checkers Snopes investigated a similarly false claim that the video was of a Russian warship being destroyed.
It was misused again earlier this year, with claims circulating on Chinese-language social media that it showed an Israeli ship being sunk in the Red Sea, Radio Free Asia reported.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels had been launching attacks on commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for months, often using anti-ship missiles or attack drones to strike vessels*.*
Earlier this week, U.S. Central Command said the U.S. and its Red Sea allies had taken down five Houthi drones over the weekend that posed an "imminent threat."
"It was determined that these UAS presented an imminent threat to both coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region," the Central Command statement read. "These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels."
The Ruling
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False.
The video is not of a Houthi rebel ship attack on the USS Mason in the Red Sea. It is a recording of a missile test strike in Norway, filmed more than 10 years ago. The video has been repeatedly misappropriated by misinformation actors online.
While the Mason was targeted by Yemeni rebels, U.S. Central Command said it destroyed the incoming anti-ship missile.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
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