Fact check: No iPhones or solar panels exploded in Lebanon

The attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 17 and 18, in Lebanon with exploding walkie-talkies and pagers apparently targeted members of Hezbollah. The Iran-backed political party and militant group holds Israel responsible for the strikes that killed at least 29 persons and injured around 2,800 people.

In the aftermath of the explosions a lot of fake images, videos and claims have been spreading online claiming to show the incidents.

DW's fact checking team checked three viral claims.

Are iPhones exploding in Lebanon as well?

Claim: "An iPhone was also blown up in Lebanon", a social media user wrote on X (formerly Twitter) sharing an image of a destroyed iPhone with more than 800.000 views.

DW Fact check: False.

A reverse image search reveals that this image is old and has nothing to do with the current incidents in Lebanon. The image of the exploded iPhone dates back to March 2021 when Egyptian news outlet Cairo24 reported an iPhone explosion in Maadi, Cairo. The incident caused a fire and injured a child.

Did exploding solar panels hurt more than 500 individuals?

Claim: Other social media users insinuated that Israel had caused solar panels to burst into flames. "Lebanon: Sabotaged solar panels have started significant electrical fires. Over 500 individuals have been reported injured so far", this user wrote featuring an Israeli flag. Attached was an image of burning solar panels and a house on fire.

DW Fact check: False.

There are no documented cases of exploding solar panels in the current attacks in Lebanon. The image is a collage of two old pictures.

Via a reverse image searchwe find both images: The image on the left, showing burning solar panels, dating back toan X-post from February 2020. In the post, the US-American Fire Safety Research Institute shared an article about the safety of photovoltaic systems along with the image.

The second photo shows a burning house dates back to December 2020. The fire incident took place in Canada and not in Lebanon.

Did this laptop explode on September 19 in Lebanon?

Claim: "19-09-2024 – Explosion in Laptops”, a social media user wrote on X posting a photo of a charred laptop.

DW Fact check: False.

The user added "Mossad is unstoppable” blaming the Israeli secret service for the explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and now laptops as well. So far, there is no evidence that Israel or Mossad is responsible for the attacks. Pagers and walkie-talkies indeed exploded killing and injuring people. But no reliable reports exist that laptops did, as well.

The shared image gives no evidence for something alike either. A reverse image search shows that the image dates back to at least 2021 when it was posted on Reddit.

So far, only pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon according to both regional and international news. While Hezbollah and Iran both hold Israel accountable for the explosions it's not confirmed who is responsible for the attacks.

If you want to know more about how the explosions in Lebanon happened technically, DW Science explains it in this article.

Edited by: Jan Walter