Hezbollah threatens to target Indian embassies in Middle East if it continues supplying weapons to Israel

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a keyword search to find any news or report to corroborate the matter.

Multiple posts on social media platform X on June 30, 2024, shared an alleged picture of uniformed individuals with a claim that Lebanon’s Shia political party Hezbollah threatened to target Indian embassies in the Middle East if the country continued supplying weapons to Israel. However, no evidence was found for this development.

According to an Al Jazeera report published on June 29, Hezbollah is preparing for different scenarios as the low-level conflict between it and Israel threatens to spin out into something larger.

Moreover, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeated in speeches since October that his group will stop its cross-border attacks on Israel only when the latter agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and stops its ongoing military offensive that has killed over 37,000 Palestinians.

An India Today report published on June 25 said that former Israeli ambassador to India Daniel Carmon claimed that India might be supplying arms to Israel in its campaign in Gaza as a way of “returning the favour” for Israeli support during the 1999 Kargil War.

It added that his remarks came amid reports that India supplied drones and artillery shells to Israel as it ran low on supplies. It further said that India did not confirm the reports or react to Carmon’s remarks.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 30, 2024, an account describing itself as an open-source intelligence network that discusses conflicts and strategic developments posted an image on X of uniformed individuals.

The caption of the post said, “Breaking: Hezbollah says it will target Indian embassies in Middle East if India continues supplying weapons to Israel.”

The post garnered over 513,000 views on X.

The same image and caption were posted by an account claiming to report on defence, geopolitics, global conflicts and Afghanistan’s affairs.

The post was viewed by over 6,200 users.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and since it concerned the ongoing Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip and the surrounding region, an issue which commands significant public interest.

A keyword search conducted to find any news reports or stories which could corroborate the alleged development yielded none, not even on sources or based on interviews or reports from anonymous officials.

Similarly, no news outlet covered the alleged development as well or mentioned it.

A further search yielded an X post of veteran war correspondent and political analyst Elijah J. Magnier saying that there was no evidence for the claim.

Sharing the screenshots of the accounts reporting the claim, Magnier said: “Hezbollah will never target any embassy, especially those of India or any other nation. Such fake news is spread by those with a gross misunderstanding of how Hezbollah operates. Attacking embassies is counterproductive and belongs to the 1980s. Just because Hezbollah warned Cyprus to avoid being part of this conflict doesn’t mean anyone can fabricate similar fake theories about embassies and other countries worldwide, including those supplying Israel with weapons and intelligence, like the US, Germany, the UK and France.”

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding Hezbollah threatening to attack Indian embassies for supplying weapons to Israel is false.

There is absolutely no evidence, not even reports based on sources, to corroborate the alleged development.

Evidence and References

June 25, 2024, India Today report:
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-weapons-supply-israel-gaza-war-return-for-kargil-war-support-daniel-carmon-2557621-2024-06-25

June 29, 2024, Al Jazeera report:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/29/hezbollahs-plans-israels-threats-is-either-side-ready-for-war