"Massive Fires and Falling Rockets".. What is the truth behind the videos attributed to Houthi attacks on Riyadh?

- Accounts on social media circulated videos attributed to Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The circulated clips showed what appeared to be massive nighttime fires and thick smoke clouds, along with other scenes of rockets falling and debris flying in the sky.

Posts, some of which garnered over a million views on X alone, claimed to be related to the attack on Riyadh, including King Khalid International Airport. By breaking down the scenes into still shots and using reverse image search, we found numerous copies of the circulated clips dating back several years.

One of these clips claimed that what it showed was related to a fire at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. However, we found a version of the video published on TikTok dated August 21, 2025.

At that time, the video was accompanied by a description stating: "Fire in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, these shops are burning for the second time in three years," questioning why it had ignited again. The Civil Defense in Riyadh had announced at that time that it had managed to extinguish "a fire in commercial shops in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, with no injuries."

A Yemeni account on X, whose posts express support for the Houthi group, also shared a 24-second nighttime clip, presenting it as "urgent from Riyadh," showing cars in a street with flashes in the sky, while a voice is heard saying: "A rocket exploded, oh my God." Reverse image search for the video revealed a similar clip on YouTube, published on August 6, 2021.

Despite this, there is no clear context regarding the video. A third clip has circulated, accompanied by claims that "Urgent: The Houthis target Riyadh moments ago with hypersonic missiles, explosions in Riyadh now."

While our verification revealed that the video shows missiles that Iran launched at Israel on June 15, 2025, during what it called "Operation Promised Truth 3," in response to an attack that Israel named "The Rising Lion." The circulation of these videos in misleading contexts over the past few hours coincided with the activation of early warning systems in Saudi Arabia around Riyadh, before the Civil Defense Authority announced on Saturday the end of the danger situation in the capital.

The warnings come amid an escalation by the Houthi group in Yemen, backed by Iran, in its attacks on Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the group accused the kingdom of conducting airstrikes on provinces under its control.