NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the real facts:

___

CLAIM: Photo shows a Turkish soldier helping a child drink from a water bottle with the implication it was taken during the military offensive launched by Turkey last week in northern Syria.

THE FACTS: The photo was not taken during the recent offensive. It was taken in Turkey in 2015 by Associated Press photographer Lefteris Pitarakis. The photo was widely shared on Twitter this week, suggesting that the recent attack on U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northern Syria has not hurt civilians. "Not war, mercy," one Twitter user wrote with the image in one post, which was accompanied by the hashtag #TurkishArmyForThePeace. Turkey began its assault after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. military withdrawal all 1,000 troops in northeastern Syria. The military action has resulted in the displacement of 160,000 civilians and many casualties, according to estimates Monday from U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The photo was taken in southeastern Turkey on June 14, 2015, after thousands of Syrian refugees cut through a border fence and crossed into Turkey. The refugees were fleeing fighting between Syrian Kurds and jihadis.

___

CLAIM: Rep. Ilhan Omar protested outside Trump's Oct. 10 campaign rally in Minneapolis.

THE FACTS: Omar was on a five-day trade trip to Morocco with Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge, from Ohio, and Karen Bass, of California, when social media users began circulating photos and video suggesting that the congresswoman was involved in protests outside the Trump rally in Minneapolis. The scene was chaotic outside the Target Center where anti-Trump...