A social media post going viral (here, here, here, and here) shows an image of a damaged toilet. A user captioned “Some Hezbollah operative blew up while taking a dump” alleging that this related to the recent incidents in Lebanon involving Hezbollah. This post is being shared in the context of recent multiple deadly explosions targeting the militant group’s communication devices. Let’s verify the claim through the article.
Claim: Image of the damaged bathroom in Lebanon following a Hezbollah operative’s explosion.
Fact: The image dates back to January 2020 and shows damage from a suspected improvised explosive device that exploded in a public toilet at King George V Memorial Park in Hong Kong. This incident has no connection to the recent explosions in Lebanon. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A Google Lens search of the viral image led us to a South China Morning Post news report from Hong Kong, dated 28 January 2020. The viral photo matches the one in the report. According to the report, an improvised explosive device was discovered in a rubbish bin at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point on the morning of 28 January 2020, just 12 hours after a public toilet in Hong Kong was set on fire by a suspected homemade bomb. This was the third such incident within 48 hours.
Additionally, we found reports from Chinese media (here and here) about the same incident. According to these reports, the explosion occurred in a public toilet at King George V Memorial Park on Jordan Road.
To sum up, an old 2020 image of a public toilet in Hong Kong damaged by an explosion is falsely shared as a recent incident in Lebanon involving Hezbollah.
