Egyptian TV host Ahmed Moussa became the object of ridicule Monday after he mistakenly presented footage from a video game as footage of Russian airstrikes in Syria on his show Sunday night.
The anchor showed footage from the combat flight simulator video game "Apache: Air Assault" which was uploaded to YouTube in 2010, during his broadcasted show "Ala Masoleyety" which airs on Egyptian TV channel Sada El-Balad, and said it was a video of Russian airstrikes hitting terrorist targets in Syria.
"Russia doesn't joke, I'll show you the strikes, focus on the strikes, focus on the terrorists, focus on the cars, the battleships and the tanks when they run, see what the Russian aviation is doing, it's as if it's playing a game of chess," Moussa said as he presented the footage.
He said that the "terrifying" footage shows the difference between Russia and the United States in their fights against terrorism: "A year and a half has gone by and we haven't seen from the Americans a single bullet, a rocket or someone die."
"According to Ahmed Moussa's reports, this is the control unit for the Russian air defense."
Moussa elaborated by saying that while Russia is a power that faces and destroys terrorism, the United States is a power that "defends, funds and arms" terrorism.
"Did you see the precision? Can you see the operations' scene? These are all fighters from the terrorist Daesh organization, can you see what the Russians are doing to them?" he said, while commenting on the video as it was played for a second time.
"The TV crew for Ahmed Moussa's show when they are preparing the episode"
"For all of Ahmed Moussa's fans and followers, he brings you games and tells you that they are airstrikes and war.. What do you look like now?"
In the simulation game, which was developed by the Russian video game development company 'Gaijin Entertainment' and released in late 2010, players strike terrorist targets in fictional places from Apache helicopters, giving the game the look of a combat field.
However, when the 2010 YouTube video showing a section from the video game was played on Moussa's show, the footage still had the YouTube user's watermark showing on the side of the screen.
In addition, the player's voice, who was speaking in English, was still audible, making the mistake easily discoverable for viewers, especially those who had played Apache or a similar game.
After the mistake was discovered, it became the focus of sarcastic Facebook comments, tweets and a variety of memes as the YouTube videos for both the video game and the show's episode quickly went viral.
"Daesh responds to Ahmed Moussa's video with a video showing the targeting of four Russian soldiers."
"I've decided that I will play the game Super Mario on my future show and say that this is precise footage of a nuclear drilling operation in Al-Ashgar neighborhood."