Fact Check

Does This Video Show the Drone Strike That Killed Soleimani?

Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3, 2020.

Published Jan. 7, 2020

 (Twitter)
Image Via Twitter
Claim:
A video shows the U.S.-ordered drone strike that killed Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

A few days after a U.S. drone killed Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 in Baghdad, a video supposedly showing the attack started to circulate on social media. One version shared by a Twitter user racked up 50,000 views within a day of its initial posting:

This is not a genuine video of the drone attack on Soleimani but a clip from the mobile video game "AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron" from Byte Conveyor Studio.

Byte Conveyor Studio uploaded the official version of this clip to its YouTube page in March 2015 with the following caption:

Development preview of our upcoming game for mobile platforms, "AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron". Voted TOP 50 2014 App of the Year at SlideDB.

During the Vietnam War, AC-130 Gunships flew air interdiction and armed reconnaissance missions over the Ho Chi Minh trail with the objective of disrupting the North Vietnamese supply lines.
The Gunship was extremely successful in that role, destroying tens of thousands of supply vehicles heading for the front lines.

The full 1:40 video can be seen below:

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.