2017 Video of Child’s Rescue in Iraq Falsely Linked to Russia-Ukraine Crisis

The video shows a girl being rescued in Mosul, Iraq when it was under ISIS occupation.

The man rescuing the girl is David Eubank, who did so in 2017 in Iraq.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A video of three army personnel behind a tank in a conflict area, where one of them rushes past the tank to rescue a child before returning, is being shared linking the video to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with users commending the bravery of the soldiers, calling them “real heroes.”

However, we found that the video is neither recent nor from Ukraine.

The video was shot in 2017 in Mosul, Iraq and shows David Eubank, a former United States Special Forces soldier turned aid worker, who ran to rescue a six-year-old girl amid Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) sniper fire as two soldiers covered him.

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CLAIM

The video is being linked to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, with social media users commending the bravery and heroism of the soldiers.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

More posts with the same claim on Facebook can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using relevant keywords, we looked up the video on Google and came across a video report on American news channel CBS’ verified YouTube channel.

As per it’s title, the video showed an American aid worker rescuing an Iraqi child and was uploaded on 22 June, 2017.

The report carries the same visuals and was taken in 2017.

(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)

The same incident was covered in a report by Fox News eight days later on 30 June 2017.

Both reports identify the man rushing to rescue the child as one David Eubank, a United States Special Forces soldier turned humanitarian aid worker, who worked with a group called Free Burma Rangers.

Speaking to Fox News, Eubank said that the child was a six-year-old girl who was hiding to escape ISIS gunfire. He added that the video was taken on 2 June that year and that since the girl had been orphaned in the conflict, she was now under the care of an Iraqi General.

A keyword search on YouTube with Eubanks’ name led us to a longer version of the rescue video, along with the girl’s reunion with her family on Free Burma Rangers’ channel.

According to an article by Los Angeles Times, Iraqi and American forces worked together to rescue the girl, who was trapped across the road where ISIS had shot people trying to escape the conflict.

Evidently, the video doesn’t show visuals of a child being rescued in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The video is from 2017 and shows a team rescuing a girl in Mosul, Iraq during ISIS-related violence.

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