By
Arinze Umeweni
An explosive drone fired at a US military base in the Gulf in the last 24 hours was discovered carrying a large photo of Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal holding a Palestinian flag.
The image on the UAV matches the picture taken in May during Barcelonaโs La Liga title celebrations, when Yamal was seen carrying the Palestinian flag.
Around the same time, another photo of Yamal went viral online. It showed the 18-year-old apparently draped in a Palestinian flag and standing next to the FIFA World Cup trophy in New Jersey.
But a fact-check by AFP found that second image to be fake.
According to the agency, digital verification tools detected Googleโs SynthID watermark, confirming it was created with artificial intelligence. AFP also compared it to real photos from Spainโs title celebrations, which showed Yamal wearing the national teamโs official โCampeonesโ jersey, with no Palestinian flag visible.
The incident underscores how both real and AI-generated images are being used in online messaging around the Middle East conflict, as manipulated content spreads quickly across social platforms.
