PARTLY FALSE: This image isn’t of an Egyptian fleet escorting a ship delivering weapons to Somalia

The image is from a U.S. and Egyptian Navy joint exercise conducted on 18 September.

This post on X (formerly Twitter), with an image claiming to show the Egyptian fleet that was at sea escorting a ship delivering weapons to Somalia, is PARTLY FALSE.

The caption accompanying the post reads: “According to one security satellite whose focus is primarily on HoA, has picked up almost 4 of the Gowind class corvette Egyptian fleet were at the sea escorting ships delivering weapons to Somalia Republic. This tells you the seriousness of Egypt and the quantity of the arms.” 

The claim was shared on social media as Egypt delivered a ship full of heavy weaponry to the Horn of an African nation on 23 September 2024, as reported here. 

On August 14, the federal government of Somalia signed a defense pact with Egypt in Cairo, with the presence of two heads of government, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, and Abdelfattah El-sisi; the Somali presidency announced.  

To verify the authenticity of the image, Puntland Mirror conducted a Google reverse image search and established that the image is of Egyptian naval forces partnering with the US Navy to enhance interoperability and fortify military-to-military relations during a bilateral maritime exercise in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility (CENTCOM AOR), as reported here.

The photo was also published here.

Puntland Mirror examined a post on X with an image claiming to show an Egyptian fleet at sea escorting a ship delivering weapons to the Somalia republic and found it to be PARTLY FALSE.

This fact-check was produced by Puntland Mirror under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).