Pages and accounts on social media circulated a video claiming it shows citizens swimming off the Syrian coast despite high waves, strong winds, and aerial warnings.
The Kashaf team examined the clip by breaking it into still frames and running reverse image searches, in addition to reviewing the original circulating copies, and found that the video was previously published by photographer Joe Minar, who specializes in surfing photography, and documents scenes from California, USA, with no connection to the Syrian coast or its weather.
Why is this claim misleading?
Out of temporal and geographic context: A clip filmed in California was repurposed and attached to a claim about a different place and time, to suggest the scenes are recent and from the Syrian coast.
