TEL AVIV — Within minutes of Israel’s latest targeted military response against Houthi terrorists in Yemen, Iranian regime-affiliated media outlets moved rapidly to frame the narrative with false reports of supposed retaliation: a ballistic missile strike purportedly hitting Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. Despite swift debunking by Israeli authorities and international observers, Iranian state-run news agencies attempted to shape public perception, underscoring the increasingly sophisticated information campaigns waged by Tehran and its regional allies as part of their wider war on Israel.
The ‘Mehr’ news agency released a two-minute video just moments after international news outlets reported on an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strike against Houthi launch sites and command infrastructure in Yemen. The agency claimed a missile launched by the Houthis had impacted Ben Gurion Airport, leaving what they described as a 25-meter-deep crater—an assertion conspicuously unsupported by any visual evidence or independent verification. Israeli airport authorities, together with international journalists granted access to the site, confirmed that the airport remained fully operational with no signs of any attack or physical damage. Israeli security officials denounced the report as a deliberate fabrication, part of the Iranian regime’s ongoing psychological and propaganda operations amidst an imposed regional war.
This episode fits a broader recent pattern in which Iranian-backed media seeks to create the impression of strategic Israeli vulnerability or military humiliation—even in the absence of any actual battlefield successes. The Houthis, deeply supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have regularly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel since the outbreak of the current conflict triggered by the Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023—the deadliest single antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust. These attacks, mostly directed toward the southern port of Eilat or aimed at international shipping in the Red Sea, have been overwhelmingly intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered missile defense systems, including the Iron Dome and Arrow.
While Houthis and their Iranian sponsors boast of their capabilities, the operational reality reveals a far different picture. Israeli defensive systems have proven effective not only in protecting military and civilian infrastructure but in maintaining the continuous operation of Ben Gurion International Airport—Israel’s key aviation hub. No credible international or independent reporting has ever confirmed the kind of damage described in the recent ‘Mehr’ video; such claims appear regularly in Iranian and Houthi messaging only in the direct aftermath of setbacks or successful Israeli counterstrikes.
The strategic intent behind such disinformation stands clear: to bolster the morale of proxy forces, deflect attention from operational failures, and sow uncertainty among regional audiences. By portraying invented attacks and exaggerated consequences, the Iranian regime attempts to offset real losses suffered by its affiliates. The spread of false claims concerning Israeli civilian sites is especially aimed at shaping perceptions in the Arab and wider Muslim world, where Tehran seeks to maintain the image of an effective, unified resistance against Israel.
Israel’s declassification of evidence and openness to international scrutiny underscores the moral and political distinction between its defense operations and the terror tactics of Iranian proxies such as the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah. While Israel conducts its campaigns with a focus on military targets and under the gaze of the world’s media, Iranian actors resort to fabricating battlefield events, routinely violating basic standards of truth and international norms regarding civilian protection and the laws of war. The deliberate targeting, execution, abduction, and abuse of innocents—most infamously during the October 7 massacre—stand in stark contrast to Israel’s actions as a democratic nation acting in defense of its citizens under attack.
This ongoing information battlefield also has material dimensions. The international community—led by the United States, under President Donald Trump, and echoed by regional actors including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan—has repeatedly condemned both the violence and the misinformation campaigns emanating from Iran and its affiliates. American and European officials have reaffirmed bilateral cooperation with Israel on intelligence, counter-terrorism, and advanced missile defense technologies, recognizing that the war imposed by Iran is not only physical but psychological and digital as well.
Meanwhile, for Israeli society, the impact of these propaganda operations remains limited. The operational tempo at Ben Gurion Airport continues uninterrupted, with stringent security protocols and regular reassurance to both domestic and foreign travelers. Israeli resilience rests not only on technological superiority but also on the confidence of its civilian population to withstand both material and psychological assault. The Israeli Home Front Command and national emergency networks remain vigilant, ensuring transparency and public calm in the face of recurrent hostile messaging from Iran and its proxies.
At the strategic level, the Iranian regime’s emphasis on psychological victories—publicizing invented successes and obscuring actual losses—betrays an underlying weakness. While Iran’s longer-term aim remains the encirclement and attrition of Israel through regional terror formations, the events since the October 7 massacre reveal an adversary increasingly unable to deliver substantive blows on the battlefield, relying instead on digital and media manipulation. The challenge for Israel, and for objective international journalism, is to expose these tactics and ensure that public understanding remains rooted in verifiable fact—not manufactured fiction.
CONTEXT AND IMPLICATIONS
The latest instance of Iranian amplification of fabricated Houthi achievements coincides with heightened tensions across the broader Middle East. Tehran has escalated its involvement by directing or supporting attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shi’ite militias in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, all while intensifying messaging aimed at disrupting Israeli morale and threatening the stability of regional governments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have repeatedly signaled Israel’s determination to thwart Iranian encirclement and defend the country on all fronts—military, diplomatic, and informational.
In Gaza, Israeli forces remain engaged in ongoing operations against Hamas terrorists to dismantle their capacity following the October 7 massacre, while negotiating for the release of hostages, whose abduction highlights the criminal nature of Israel’s adversaries. The moral and legal clarity of Israel’s self-defense is further accentuated by these asymmetries; Israel’s enemies seek both to terrorize civilians and to mislead global opinion, whereas Israel’s transparency and accountability continue to set it apart.
CONCLUSION
The release of fabricated footage and disinformation by Iranian state media underscores Iran’s reliance on information warfare to mask the setbacks suffered by its network of regional proxies. As Israel continues to act against threats on all fronts—in Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon, and beyond—it does so with a commitment to fact-based transparency and public resilience. The burden remains on journalists, policymakers, and the global public to critically examine such claims, resist the erosion of truth, and uphold the moral and historical clarity that defines Israel’s just war against Iranian-backed terror.
