Russia posts game image to ‘proof’ US aid Daesh
Russia’s defence ministry on Tuesday posted images it said proved the US was aiding the Daesh group in the Middle East, but social media users pointed out they included a still from a videogame.
THE MINISTRY’S OFICIAL ACCOUNT said the black-and-white images were taken on November 9 near the Syriairaq border and provided “irrefutable proof that the US is providing cover to Daesh combat units.” But the monitor CONLICT INTELLIGENCE TEAM (CIT), ALONG with a number of social media users, was quick to compare one of the images with an identical still from the wargame “AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron”.
Other images posted to Twitter appeared to be taken from videos released by Baghdad’s Ministry of Defence in 2016, showing the Iraqi Air Force bombing extremists near Fallujah, the CIT said.
AFP was able to compare the images in the emailed defence ministry statement with the images of the VIDEOGAME ON YOUTUBE AND CONIRM the resemblance.
The images were later deleted from the ministry of defence’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and the ministry said several hours later that there had been a “mistake”, and publishing a different set of pictures, calling them “irrefutable proof” of US aid of Daesh.
“The defence ministry is looking into a civilian employee of one of the departments who attached photos to the defence ministry’s statement by mistake,” a new statement was quoted by Russian agencies as saying.
The military stood by its allegations saying “the refusal of US command TO INLICT STRIKES ON DAESH CONVOYS on November 9 is an established fact recorded in the transcript of conversations.” The US Embassy in Moscow said in a statement posted on Twitter that “the US is not going to spend time on the nonsensical claims by the Russian ministry of defense accusing us of complicity with Daesh, using images from video games and old photos of military operations in another country.” “We need to focus on destroying our common enemy and not play games,” it said.
Moscow has previously accused WASHINGTON OF “PRETENDING” TO IGHT Daesh in Iraq, allowing extremists into neighbouring Syria where Russia and the US have backed opposing sides in THE BLOODY CONLICT. THE PENTAGON HAS LATLY DENIED THE CLAIMS.