A photo that has circulated in reports since 2015 about an Iranian military drill has been shared online alongside a false claim in 2024 that it shows a Greek ship “attacked by Yemen”. Attacks by Yemen’s Huthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea since November 2023 have unleashed a wave of misinformation online.
“A Greek ship was attacked by Yemen,” reads part of Malay-language text overlaid on a TikTok post, shared on January 17, 2024. “Praise be to God, more are coming, Yemen is not a coward…”
The post — viewed more than 7,300 times — includes a photo of an exploding ship emitting a plume of smoke.
According to the caption, it shows Yemen’s attack on a Greek ship called “Zogravia”.
The post emerged one day after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a Greek-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea.
A source within the Greek maritime affairs ministry told AFP that the ship was a 24-crew vessel called the Zografia, which had been sailing from Vietnam to Israel.
Since November 2023, the Huthis — who have controlled much of Yemen since a civil war erupted in 2014 — have been targeting what they consider Israeli-linked shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The Houthis’ attacks and retaliatory US and British strikes have heightened fears of the Israel-Hamas war flaring across the region and disrupted trade in one of the world’s key maritime commercial routes.
