Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott has tweeted what at first appears to be a shocking image, a western aircraft carrying out low-level bombing runs in a heavily populated city. The problem? It’s a poorly photoshopped image published in a blog years ago.

When browsing Twitter to check notifications on the UK Defence Journal account, I noticed a flood of people pointing us to this tweet and honestly, I thought it was a spoof at first.

Shocking to hear Tory minister on @BBCr4today claim that you can’t allow Parliament to vote on war because that would be to “outsource the decision to people who don’t have all the info” Do these people understand what parliamentary democracy is? pic.twitter.com/1sMxSJb48G — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) April 16, 2018

What the image actually shows is an Israeli F-15 at very low altitude over Tehran with tracer fire whizzing by. It is not real. The tweet has attracted a great deal of criticism for the inaccurate and highly emotive image.

Apparently, my use of this pic is ‘important news’. Yes, UK goes to war without UN approval or even parliamentary debate. But the most important news is what pics I use in a tweet. Pathetic. — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) April 16, 2018

Tweeting criticism of the strikes is of course not an issue. Using highly emotive images appearing to suggest that the Royal Air Force and others conducted bombing raids in high density urban areas likely to cause heavy casualties is not, in fact, it’s simply irresponsible.

Interesting photo you’ve got there. When was Tehran bombed by F-15s again? — War Student (@war_student) April 16, 2018

It’s a mockup featuring an Israeli F15 from an aviation blog five years ago https://t.co/TEbFUP8MPH — John Spray (@jcsp_tweets) April 16, 2018

It really does appear that Diane Abbott has posted a fake computer-generated image from a 2012 blog which shows what an Israeli attack on Tehran could look like. pic.twitter.com/Lec4lrUbgE — Mark Di Stefano ?? (@MarkDiStef) April 16, 2018

Not even @HackneyAbbott can defy the LAWS of PHYSICS. It needs a SLOW shutter speed to get the tracer in daylight and a FAST shutter speed to get the aircraft. You cannot do both at the same time. — Defence Photography (@DefencePhoto) April 16, 2018

That's the Milad Tower in Tehran That's an Israeli F15 Aircraft don't deploy bombs from such a low altitude in an urban area Those tracer rounds are so clearly photoshopped; its not night The image is heavily photoshopped, and irrelevant, given the context of your tweet. https://t.co/6wPLEGu5VD — Henry Jones (@hthjones) April 16, 2018

On the morning of the 14th of April, the United States, the United Kingdom and France carried out a series of cruise missile against multiple government targets in Syria.

In total, the forces of the three nations fired 105 cruise missiles:

66 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from US Navy ships

19 JASSM-ER cruise missiles were fired from from American B-1 bombers

9 SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles from French Air Force Rafale jets

8 SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles from Royal Air Force Tornado jets

3 Naval SCALP cruise missiles from French Navy ships

According to US military’s Joint Staff, the allocation of missiles to targets was:

Barzeh research and development centre (Damascus): 57 Tomahawk and 19 JASSM-ER missiles.

Him Shinshar storage site (west of Homs): 9 Tomahawk, 8 British Storm Shadow, 3 MdCN, and 2 French SCALP missiles.

Him Shinshar bunker (west of Homs): 7 French SCALP missiles.

“All weapons hit their targets close to the designated time on target,” said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the US Joint Staff director.

“None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses,” McKenzie said. “We have no indication that Russian air defenses were employed.”

Syrian response was ineffectual as the Syrians launched surface-to-air missiles on a ballistic trajectory. “Most of the launches occurred after our strike was over,” the general said.

“When you shoot iron into the air without guidance, it has to come down somewhere.”