‘Battle of the Chicken’ – Arab social media erupts in mockery after Hezbollah rocket hits Israeli chicken coop

Amid Hezbollah’s claims of success, Arab commentators laugh about ‘chicken attack’

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After Hezbollah’s long-awaited response to the killing of its military chief Fuad Shukr last month was largely foiled by waves of IDF airstrikes early on Sunday morning, the terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed the attack was successful.

Despite this, the only evidence of rocket impacts in Israel on Sunday were videos showing damage to several houses and, most notably, a chicken coop in Moshav Ramot Naftali.

The damaged chicken coop led to widespread mockery on Arabic social media, and a plethora of pictures and memes making fun of Hezbollah’s “Chicken Attack” and the “Battle of the Chicken.”

Beneath a post from the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya, which displayed the burning coop, a Saudi user commented, "After the battle of the chicken, they have the right to respond to the chicken attack."

Many users shared an AI-created image showing chickens under a rocket assault.

تكدر تكوم بييه افضل منا تسوي نفسك مضحكة#غزوةالدجاج pic.twitter.com/IchMJHnYVh
— Dr. Nebuchadnezzar✝️ (@DrNebuchadnezar) August 25, 2024

Not to be outdone, Edy Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli journalist who has a large Arab following on 𝕏, joined the action by sharing a picture of what he said were the “martyred officers who were liquidated by Hezbollah missiles today in Israel. May God have mercy on them.”

صور الضباط الشهداء الذي تم تصفيتهم بصواريخ حزب الله اليوم في اسرائيل. الله يرحمهم. pic.twitter.com/MPW9Tij3KP
— إيدي كوهين אדי כהן 🇮🇱 (@EdyCohen) August 25, 2024

Another user wrote, “This is what Nasrallah is capable of doing, the UN Security Council should convene to condemn the genocide of the chickens. No chicken will be taken captive,” adding a photo of the coop and Nasrallah talking to the UN secretary-general.

#عاجل #غزوةالدجاج 🐓🦃🐓 هذا اللي قدر عليه #حسننصرالله
مجلس الأمن مدعو لحماية دجاج اسرائيل
لن تسبى دجاجة في اسرائيل مرتين pic.twitter.com/Eh08OFMdrh
— مجتهد العراق (@mujtahid_i) August 25, 2024

A journalist working in Syria joked: “The blood of Fuad Shukr is equivalent to one Zionist chicken.”

Amjad Taha, a well-known Emirati journalist, praised the chicken’s steadfast performance during the attack.

“What’s amazing is that even Israeli chickens didn’t run away; they stood firm on their ground and survived those rockets, while Hamas terrorists in Gaza hide like rats. At least learn from an Israeli chicken. Hezbollah should pay for this,” he wrote on 𝕏.

Let’s all condemn Hezbollah's attacks on Israel. What’s amazing is that even Israeli chickens didn’t run away; they stood firm on their ground and survived those rockets, while Hamas terrorists in Gaza hide like rats. At least learn from an Israeli chicken. Hezbollah should pay… pic.twitter.com/s4TygR8Z2v
— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) August 25, 2024

He also shared an altered version of Hezbollah’s flag incorporating a chicken instead of its name.

This picture has been circulating widely across the Arab and Muslim world under the headline 'Breaking News: Hezbollah has changed its flag,' which now suggests that Israel has won the war against Hezbollah. Israeli chickens stood firm, while Hamas terrorists hid like rats. pic.twitter.com/dwneW2Hy1c
— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) August 26, 2024

The joke quickly spread across social media and was picked up in various languages, with an Italian journalist contributing the quip, “Nasrallah chickened out!”

Circolano sui social meme che prendono per i fondelli gli #Hezbollah. Nasrallah con orgoglio rivendica un attacco andato a buon fine sul territorio del nord di Israele.
Ma in effetti i missili hezbollah hanno colpito un allevamento di polli…

Nasrallah chickened out! pic.twitter.com/Y3vrnbf310
— alessandro tedesco (@art66) August 25, 2024

“The group is getting ridiculed mercilessly for scoring a direct strike on a chicken coup in Israel. I hear Nasrallah is really clucking unhappy about it. The group is crying fowl,” wrote Jonathan Schanzer from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.