Two separate accounts centre on the Bab el-Mandab strait and the Red Sea. Deutsche Welle reported that fighting between Yemen's Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia has intensified in recent days, with Houthi forces advancing along the Red Sea coast and taking key areas around Bab el-Mandeb, Saudi Arabia responding with airstrikes, and Houthi forces firing drones and missiles towards Saudi territory. ABC News Australia reported that Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will travel to Saudi Arabia next week for meetings with his counterpart, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, saying Australia holds 41 days' worth of petrol and that he remains concerned about the squeeze on oil in the Middle East, caused in part by what he called the Iran War.
Disinformation reported around Houthi-Saudi fighting as Australia's energy minister plans Saudi fuel talks
Two separate accounts centre on the Bab el-Mandab strait and the Red Sea. Deutsche Welle reported that fighting between Yemen's Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia has intensified in recent days, with Houthi forces advancing along the Red Sea coast and taking key areas around Bab el-Mandeb, Saudi Arabia responding with airstrikes, and Houthi forces firing drones and missiles towards Saudi territory. ABC News Australia reported that Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will travel to Saudi Arabia next week for meetings with his counterpart, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, saying Australia holds 41 days' worth of petrol and that he remains concerned about the squeeze on oil in the Middle East, caused in part by what he called the Iran War.
According to Deutsche Welle, the renewed fighting has also raised concerns about global trade passing through the Red Sea. DW reported that the Houthis took Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and expanded their control in 2014, that Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in 2015 in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government, and that a UN-brokered truce in 2022 sharply reduced fighting without resolving the conflict, with fighting intensifying again since. DW reported that the Houthis now control large parts of northern and western Yemen, that Saudi Arabia supports forces opposing them, and that Iran has provided the Houthis with military support.
DW's fact-checking team examined a nine-second clip that circulated on X with an Arabic caption stating that Yemeni forces were carrying out the strongest strikes in various areas of Saudi Arabia, including Abha, and which DW said had more than 340,000 views and was posted in other languages as footage of the current fighting. DW concluded the clip is both old and artificially generated, citing visual indications including the pattern of explosions, the uniform spread of smoke, the absence of a bright flash that a large explosion would produce, the apparent lack of collapsed buildings or shattered windows, and a lamppost that appears in the frame near the end of the clip. DW also noted that the speaker's tone does not change after the explosion, and said the AI detection platform Hive Moderation confirmed clear indications the video was generated using artificial intelligence. DW said a reverse image search showed the same video was shared in June, when it was claimed to show explosions in Iran.
DW also examined a 30-second clip posted on X showing a convoy of military vehicles crossing desert, followed by large explosions and vehicles engulfed in smoke and flames, captioned as a Houthi ambush against what it called a Saudi-backed mercenaries' convoy in Yemen. DW said the video is old and unrelated to the current conflict, citing a timestamp pointing to March 10, 2024, and a reverse image search that led to an April 2024 YouTube video described as showing a Houthi military exercise, with an Arabic caption describing a simulated ambush on Israeli positions and attacks on US and British forces, and with Israeli and American flags visible. DW said it traced the sequence to a 42-minute video published by Yemeni War Media, an outlet affiliated with the Houthi movement, and that the audio had been changed, with the circulating version carrying commentary that DW identified as sports commentary from a 2018 football match.
Hannah Porter, who DW said has spent years researching fake news and disinformation in Yemen and the country's wider information environment, told DW that attention on Yemen is lower than on other conflicts and that this allows more space for disinformation to spread within Yemen, in the region and globally. She said it is 'very difficult to get reliable information, especially now and especially in the north' of Yemen, and that researchers and the international community are struggling to establish what is happening in northern Yemen. DW reported that experts and media watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders have repeatedly said reporting from parts of Yemen remains extremely difficult, that journalists face threats and independent media outlets are under intense pressure, and that with much of Yemen's media landscape weakened, reliable information can be difficult to obtain, making it harder for people to independently assess footage circulating online.
ABC News Australia reported that Bowen told 7.30 on Monday night that the pipeline running through Saudi Arabia is responsible for about 4 per cent of the world's oil supply, and that the constraining of the Bab al-Mandab straits is 'very difficult', describing it as one of the straits that has replaced the Strait of Hormuz as a key area for getting fuel out of Saudi Arabia. ABC reported that Bowen said he would meet Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud to obtain information directly on the situation, including the state of the pipeline, when it will return to more normal levels, and the Saudi Arabian government's approach, which he said would be key for ensuring fuel security over coming weeks and months.
ABC also reported that Bowen called the announcement of hundreds of job losses at Whyalla 'deeply disturbing' and said former owner Sanjeev Gupta had 'let South Australians down' with 'mismanagement' of the plant. ABC reported that, asked whether he still believed in the future of green hydrogen, Bowen said it still has a future in Australia and the world but has proven slower to roll out than was predicted globally and in Australia three or four years ago. According to ABC, he cited development by Orica at Kooragang Island in Newcastle with government support, said hydrogen has a role in decarbonising and moving heavy industry off gas, and said it has been slower and more expensive than hoped, with costs not falling as quickly as expected for a range of global reasons. ABC reported that Bowen said green hydrogen was 'not dead' and has a role including creating jobs in Australia.
Where sources differ
- The two sources attribute the Red Sea region's disruption differently: Deutsche Welle links concern over global trade through the Red Sea to the renewed Houthi-Saudi fighting and Houthi gains near Bab el-Mandeb, while ABC News Australia reports Australian minister Chris Bowen attributing the squeeze on Middle East oil in part to what he called the Iran War, and makes no mention of Houthi involvement.
- None of the sources establishes that the two reports concern the same event, and no source draws or verifies a connection between the Yemen fighting/disinformation described by Deutsche Welle and the fuel-supply concerns described by ABC News Australia.
- Neither source independently verifies the recent Houthi territorial gains, the Saudi airstrikes or the reported Houthi drone and missile launches beyond DW's account; no dates for the recent escalation and no casualty figures are given.
- No source states what 'the Iran War' referred to by Bowen consists of, when it began, or its current status; ABC does not explain the term.
- The state of the Saudi oil pipeline, its current capacity and when it might return to more normal levels are not established; Bowen states he is seeking that information from the Saudi energy minister.
- No response from Sanjeev Gupta to Bowen's criticism of the Whyalla plant's management is included in any source.
- No statement or position from the Saudi Arabian government, its energy ministry or Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud appears in either source.
- No statement or position from Houthi leadership appears in either source.
- DW's assessment of the two video clips rests on its own analysis and the Hive Moderation detection platform as cited by DW; no second independent fact-check of the clips is provided.
- The sources give no independent confirmation from within Yemen of the events described, with DW reporting that reporting from parts of the country remains extremely difficult.
- Deutsche Welle — original — by Anwar Ashraf
- ABC News Australia — by Courtney Gould
Read the original at Deutsche Welle