FALSE: This image does not show an operation carried out by Ethiopian fighter jets in Weldiya, Amhara region
In 2017, NATO tested how fast its forces can be deployed and the operation was captured in this picture.
An image post claiming to show Ethiopian Air Force jets carrying out operations in Weldiya, Amhara region is FALSE.
The text accompanying the 12 September 2021 post in Amharic claims in part, “Ethiopian Air Force fighter jets have made history tonight”.
“Weldiya has been fully freed from the terrorist group and Kobo city has been encircled by the Ethiopian Defense Force,” the post shared on Facebook, adds.
It further praises the national force and Amhara special militia for freeing the claimed areas from the “terrorist groups”.
The image accompanying the post shows three military aircraft flying near the ground in an unidentified location, and a cloud of smoke is seen from behind.
There is an ongoing armed conflict in northern Ethiopia between government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Reports indicate that civilians from multiple regions in Ethiopia are recruiting to join the conflict, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths, and the United States has expressed concern over the continued atrocities.
The post claims to show an image of the Ethiopian Air Force carrying out an operation using fighter jets in Weldiya, also known as Woldia, the capital of North Wollo zone in Amhara region. PesaCheck has found that this is not true.
Google reverse image search results show that the picture has been used in multiple stories since 2017.
The image was initially featured in a video footage by the Irish Sun titled, “War Games: NATO conducts massive military exercise testing its response to ‘invasion of Romania”, in June 2017.
The video identifies the location as Cincu Range in Romania, and the military drill was to figure out how quickly the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, moves its forces.
PesaCheck has looked into an image shared on Facebook claiming to show Ethiopian Air Force fighter jets carrying out operations in Weldiya, Amhara region, Ethiopia, and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Tolera Gemta and edited by PesaCheck deputy editor Eden Berhane. and chief copy editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Enock Nyariki.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.