By Hend Kortam

CAIRO, OCT 13 (Aswat Masriya) - Controversial talk show host Ahmed Moussa defended himself against criticism for the video game footage scandal, saying on his show Monday night that "mistakes happen" and claiming that the uproar was a US-led conspiracy against him.

This comes after purported video footage of Russian airstrikes which he aired on his show turned out to be scenes from a video game.  

The television host runs a show called, "My Responsibility" on privately-owned Sada Elbalad channel. 

Moussa, who was vocal about supporting Russia's airstrikes in Syria said on Sunday, that Russia is "not joking" when it comes to fighting terrorism, before he aired the scenes of what he described as a "terrifying" video.

But the footage appears to either be from Apache: Air Assault or from Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.

Apache: Air Assault is a combat flight simulator game created by a Russian developer, where the primary goal of most missions is to stop terrorist attacks in fictional war-ravaged regions, while the latter is about a fictional war between NATO and China where both sides are using media propaganda to accuse the other of war crimes. There remains some debate on which game Moussa's footage was from.  

Last month, Russia launched airstrikes on targets in Syria using the Syrian airfield Hmeymim.

Russia says its targets have so far been Islamic State fighters but major Western powers are saying Russia does not distinguish between Islamic State fighters and other opposition groups to President Bashar al-Assad.

Moussa'a support for the Russian strikes is in line with the position of the Egyptian state which also supports the Russian strikes and says they are "consistent" with the efforts of the U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

In his show, Moussa says Islamic State fighters are running "like sheep" from a Russian airstrike. He said that the video was shot via satellite and cheered on the Russians for "occupying the air." 

Moussa reiterated his loathing for the US administration which he accused of spreading word of the incident to embarras him because he reveals the truth about it.

He drew comparisons between Russia and the Americans who, he claims, are supporting and funding the terrorists.

The mistake on Moussa's show was followed by ridicule on social media and the error became the topic of a Washington Post article, among other international media.

"Moussa seemed to think that the footage was clear proof of the Russian military's superiority over its U.S. counterparts," the Washington Post said.

In his reaction to the uproar that followed exposing the mistake, Moussa also said that errors are "possible" after working for eight or nine hours. 

"Am I not human? I am human and so are all my colleagues, we are all human. We make mistakes," he said.

He dismissed the mistake an the ensuing uproar as "pettiness" and insisted that he supports "Russia against the Islamic State" fighters, even if it "uses nuclear weapons." 

(Additional reporting by Gehad Abada)