Claim: A viral video on social media shows Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister fleeing after he was frightened by the firecrackers set off to welcome him at Riyadh’s Chinese Embassy.
Fact: The claim is false as the video is not from Riyadh. It is actually from 2019 and shows a mock military drill in Kuwait.
On 11 January 2025, a Facebook page, Apna Wazirabad posted a reel with the caption,
سعودی وزیر دفاع نے ریاض میں چینی سفارت خانے کا دورہ کیا، چینی سفارت خانے نے یہ نہیں بتایا کہ آپ کے استقبال کیلئے پٹاخے بھی چلائیں گے
[Translation: The Saudi defence minister visited the Chinese embassy in Riyadh, but the Chinese embassy did not say that they would welcome him with fire crackers.]
A YouTube user wrote, “ پٹاخوں کی آواز سے بھاگ نکلے اسرائیل سے جنگ کیسےلڑیں گے؟؟
[Translation: “How will they fight a war with Israel if they run away because of firecrackers?”]
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate, Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on the video’s keyframes. The results led to a video posted by X user @MyLordBebo on 5 January 2025. According to the user’s bio, the account debunks fake news. The video, which is similar to the one in the viral post, is captioned “Amiri guards show how they handle when a VIP is shot. Gulf Defense and AVSON exhibition on December 12, 2019”.
Taking cues from this, we conducted a keyword search on Google about the Gulf Defense exhibition in December 2019. The results led to a news article published by Global Times on 11 December 2019 which stated that the 5th Gulf Defense and Aerospace (GDA) exhibition was held at the Kuwait International Fairground in Hawalli Governorate. In the exhibition, more than 200 armament companies from 31 different countries and regions participated, the report added.
We also found a similar video uploaded on Instagram by the official account of Kuwait Army General Staff Head Quarters on 16 December 2019. The video’s Arabic language caption, when translated into English, reads:
“A part of the display of the Prince’s Guard body carried out during the 5th Gulf Defense and Aviation Exhibition, which was held from 10 to 12 December 2019 in the exhibition ground”.
Furthermore, a street view of the Kuwait International Fairgrounds on Google Maps shows that the landmarks are the same as those visible in the viral video.
Thus, we conclude that the video in the claim is not from Riyadh and neither does it show Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister. It is from Kuwait’s aviation exhibition.
Virality
The viral claim was shared in Urdu and Arabic across social media. It can be found here, here, and here on Facebook as well as here and here on X.
Conclusion: A viral video does not show Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister fleeing after he was frightened by firecrackers that went off at Riyadh’s Chinese embassy. The original video is from 2019 and shows a mock military drill in Kuwait.
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Background image in cover photo: Reuters
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