The Russian defence ministry attempted to pass off an image from a video game as “irrefutable evidence” that the US was cooperating with Isil in Syria.

The ministry claimed in a Facebook post and tweet on Tuesday that the picture showed an “Isis automobile convoy” fleeing Abu Kamal, Syria, under US protection on November 9.

In fact, it was taken from a 2015 promotional video showing AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron, a mobile game in which players fire at ground targets from a US warplane.

The discovery was made by Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, who noticed a large red “fire” button in the corner had been cropped out of the picture.

Another image purporting to show the same convoy in Syria was actually taken from a 2016 video published by Iraq's defence ministry, which said it was an Islamic State convoy fleeing Fallujah, Iraq, Conflict Intelligence Team investigators found.