Al-Manar () is a Lebanese satellite television station owned and operated by the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon. The channel was launched on 4 June 1991 as a terrestrial channel and in 2000 as a satellite channel. It is a member of the Arab States Broadcasting Union. The station reaches around 50 million people.
It is banned in the United States, France, Spain, and Germany, and has run into some service and license problems outside Lebanon, making it unavailable in the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia.
According to the RAND Corporation in 2017, "Al-Manar has an annual budget of roughly $15 million, much of it supplied by wealthy expatriate Lebanese donors and various Iranian community organizations, and income from the sale of its shows."
History
Al-Manar first began terrestrial broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon on 4 June 1991. The station was located in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut, close to Hezbollah's headquarters. Originally, the station had only a few employees, who had studied media in London during the mid-1980s. But almost a year later, Al-Manar was employing over 150 people.
Initially, Al Manar would broadcast five hours per day. Shortly before the 1992 election, it began broadcasting regular news bulletins in order to help Hezbollah attain more votes and spread its message to more people. In 1993, the station expanded its broadcasting to seven hours a day and extended its signal to the southern part of the Bekaa Valley. Ahead of the 1996 Lebanese parliamentary elections, additional antennas were erected in Northern Lebanon and throughout the Mount Lebanon range, so that the station could be viewed not only in Lebanon, but also in western Syria and northern Israel. Broadcasting was extended to 20 hours in 1998 but reduced to 18 hours in 2000 and 24 in 2001.
It started in this period to embed journalists with Hezbollah fighters, showing video of Israeli casualties, and including Hebrew so Israeli viewers could follow, with the aim of sowing fear among Israeli viewers.
Satellite broadcasting
During the 1990s, the popularity of satellite broadcasting greatly increased in the Arab world and in Lebanon. The first Lebanese station to use this technology was Future Television, launching Future International SAT in 1994, while LBCI and the Lebanese government followed by launching LBCSAT and Tele Liban Satellite respectively. In order to compete with these emerging stations, and in order to find an international audience, Al-Manar announced its intention to launch a satellite channel on 9 March 2000. Muhammad Ra'd, a Hezbollah member of parliament and al-Manar's largest shareholder, submitted the request to the minister of transmission, which was approved in April 2000. Although the launch of the satellite station was originally planned for July, the date was moved up in order to coincide with the end of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon on 25 May. This success led other television stations to follow in launching satellite stations, including Murr TV in November 2000, but it was shut down for "violating an election law prohibiting propaganda" – a fate which al-Manar did not meet, although its programming was also considered propaganda by many analysts. ArabSat, a leading communications satellite operator in the Middle East, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was at first wary about collaborating with al-Manar, because of the station's Shi'a agenda – the two companies agreed, however, that the programming would be adapted to the pan-Arab audience, leading to a slight difference between the local broadcast and the one via satellite. At first, only three hours of satellite programming were broadcast per day, but by December 2000, the station was broadcasting around the clock.
The timing of the satellite launch - covering the Israeli withdrawal and also the start of the Second Intifada - boosted its audience in the Arab world.
Al-Manar was soon carried by many satellite providers. However, starting with the removal of the station from TARBS World TV in Australia in 2003, many satellite television providers stopped featuring it. Until then the station was featured by the following providers at one time or another:
- Intelsat, broadcasting to North America
- New Skies Satellites NSS-803, Africa and parts of Europe
- ArabSat, Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, Saudi-owned
- ArabSat 2B at 30.5 degrees east
- Badr 3 at 26 degrees east
- NileSat 102 at 7 degrees west
By 2004, Al Manar was estimated to hold 10-15 million viewers daily worldwide. The attack on Al-Manar's facilities shortly followed another strike against the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut earlier that morning. Despite the attack, the station remained on air, broadcasting from undisclosed locations. The IDF bombed Al-Manar's Beirut complex again on 16 July causing fire in the complex and surrounding buildings. The station's signal disappeared briefly several times, then continued normal programming.
Human Rights Watch said the bombing of media outlets violates international law when they are not being used for military purposes ("it is unlawful to attack facilities that merely shape civilian opinion; neither directly contributes to military operations"). The incident was condemned by the International Federation of Journalists. The Israel Association of Journalists withdrew from the federation in response, claiming that Al-Manar employees "are not journalists, they are terrorists". The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists, also expressed alarm over the incident as "it (Al-Manar) does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function, according to CPJ's analysis."
The Israeli bombing increased the station's popularity:<blockquote>With other channels turning to Al Manar for the latest line from Hizbullah, it could set the regional news agenda and bring viewers to its extensive coverage of the war. Indeed, purely by staying on air, Al Manar could claim a success. According to Israel's Market Research, the channel's popularity rankings in the Middle East leapt from 83rd to the 10th slot between July 15 and 28. This meant a substantial increase to the estimated 10 million people that tune in daily to its terrestrial and satellite channels in normal times. By 2010, its annual budget was $10 million.
2013 Bahrain crisis
Iranian-backed Shia groups were involved in demonstrations starting in mid-2011 (as part of the "Arab Spring") against Bahrain's ruling Sunni oligarchy, and al-Manar backed these demonstrations and condemned the government repression of them. In late December 2013, the Lebanese Communication Group that includes Al-Manar apologised for its partisan coverage of the events at a meeting of the Arab States Broadcasting Union. In response, Hezbollah forced the Director General of the station, Abdallah Qasir or Kassir (a former MP of Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc), to resign. He went to Iran.
2020s
According to Orayb Aref Najjar, following the U.S. assassination of Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on January 3, 2020, "Al-Manar went on a daily attack on U.S. policy on Iran and the region, promising revenge."
Al-Manar translates its content into Spanish for circulation in Latin America.
On 25 October 2023, as the 2023 Gaza war spread to southern Lebanon, Al-Manar reported that its camera operator, Wissam Qassim, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, alongside two employees of allied website Al Mayadeen, while they slept in chalets used by journalists. The station's studios in Dahiyeh, southern Beirut, were hit in Israeli airstrikes in early October 2024. They were struck again in Israeli airstrikes on 3 March 2026.
On 28 March 2026, Ali Shoeib, a journalist for Al-Manar, was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. The IDF stated that Shoeib had been exposing Israeli military positions and described him as a member of Hezbollah's Radwan Force, its special operations unit.
Content
Al-Manar's programming is diverse, including music shows, children's programmes and news. The Washington Post, said in 2004 that "It heavily covers events involving the Palestinians, and it shows militants setting off explosives and shooting at Israelis and American troops, often to musical accompaniment." Citing the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Post said it often features Islamic sacred texts and images of martyrdom. A 2007 analysis described 65% of its content as entertainment and 35% as political. AP severed ties with the station shortly after this. On its websites it also republishes material verbatim from Russia's state broadcaster RT. It extensively screens Iranian films (which it sees as "culturally in harmony with Arab values and Al Manar's mostly Shiite audience") and television series including soap operas, dubbed into (and later more often subtitled in) Modern Standard Arabic, as well as Syrian series. Further talk shows include Hadith al-sa'a (Talk of the Hour), Matha ba'ad (What's Next?), Ma'al Hadath (With The Event), Bayna Kawsayn (Between The Brackets), Milafat (Files), Al-din wa al-hayat (Religion and Life), and Nun wa al-qalam (The 'Nun' and the Pen). Guests include well-known journalists, analysts, writers, Lebanese politicians, spokespersons of terrorist groups, and Islamic scholars, who discuss current religious, political, cultural, regional, and global issues.
Al-Manar often airs music videos and fillers in between full-length programs and during commercial breaks. Much of the music praises Hezbollah and its martyrs or the Palestinian intifada. The filler material usually consists of appeals to donate money to the Hezbollah, lists of demonstrations taking place worldwide, and slogans in English, Hebrew, or Arabic.
The station also offers sports broadcasting such as the programs Goal and Tis'in daqiqa (Ninety Minutes), family programming such as Al-mustakshifoun al-judud (The New Explorers), Al-Muslimoun fi al-Sin (Muslims in China), and Ayday al-khayr (Hands of Benevolence), game shows including Al-mushahid shahid (The Viewer Is the Witness), where contestants attempt to guess the names of Israeli political and military figures, and Al-muhima (The Mission) - a game show in the style of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire but with questions on Arab and Islamic history and the victor winning a virtual trip to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, The 29-part series Ash-Shatat (The Diaspora), which was aired in 2003, was also based on The Protocols; its screening on the channel led to the banning of al-Manar in France.
The station archives the complete speeches of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and those of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.), said in the 1990s that Al Manar belongs to Hezbollah culturally and politically. As of 2022, its former CEO, Abdallah Kassir, is now a member of Hezbollah's governing council. According to Orayb Aref Najjar, this stance is reflected in the language used, for instance calling the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) the "Israeli Occupation Forces" (IOF).<blockquote>Its Hot Topics section lists "The Israeli Enemy" as a search category. Al-Manar calls fighters Israel killed martyrs. Hezbollah fighters often leave archived video wills that explain why they chose martyrdom. The station also archives short video clips of family members or friends of martyrs praising their sacrifice and explaining why it benefits the country. The station glorified its martyrs on Martyr Day on November 11, 2019, with a speech by Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and in song and resistance videos.
</blockquote>
According to German public television ARD in 2023, al-Manar broadcasts calls for the destruction of Israel, such as statements from Hamas. Hashem Safieddine, chairman of the Hezbollah Executive Council, used the channel to warn US President Joe Biden, Israel's Prime Minister President Netanyahu and the "evil Europeans" about his organization. Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in 2002 that the channel "broadcasts anti-American programming, but its main purpose is to encourage Palestinians to become suicide bombers",
Al-Manar was once described as one of the channels, among other complex reasons, of the spread of Shiism in Syria in the years before 2009. In a 2011 poll, 52% percent of Shia Lebanese identified Al Manar TV as their first choice for news, compared with only 4% of Sunnis and Druze and 1% of Christians.
The station is also closely aligned to Iran. In 2015, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Nasser Akhdar, a senior manager at al-Manar, was part of a Houthi delegation in peace talks relating to the Yemeni civil war. A 2021 report by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), a conservative thinktank at Reichman University, noted that Farahat, now al-Manar CEO and a Hezbollah member is on the board of Tehran-based Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU), described as a soft power operation for the Iranian state.
Journalistic standards and restrictions
Interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg in 2002, Al Manar's news director, Hassan Fadlallah, said that Al Manar does not aim to be neutral in its broadcasting, "Neutrality like that of Al Jazeera is out of the question for us," Fadlallah said. "We cover only the victim, not the aggressor. CNN is the Zionist news network, Al Jazeera is neutral, and Al Manar takes the side of the Palestinians...He said Al Manar's opposition to neutrality means that, unlike Al Jazeera, his station would never feature interviews or comments by Israeli officials. "We're not looking to interview Sharon," Fadlallah said. "We want to get close to him in order to kill him."
In 2004, the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (Crif) complained to France's Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (Higher Audio Visual Council, CSA) that scenes in the Syrian-made series, Al-Shatat (The Diaspora), which purported to depict the history of the Zionist movement, portrayed the killing of a Christian child by Jews to use the victim's blood. Initially, Al-Manar defended Ash-Shatat as "purely factual", and said that the French response was political and not legal, influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbies. Later, however, "Al-Manar's management apologized for airing the series, dropped it, and explained that the station had purchased it without first viewing the entire series, according to Franklin Lamb [in CounterPunch]."
Restrictions
Restrictions in the US
Al-Manar was designated as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity", and banned by the United States on 17 December 2004. Lebanon's ambassador to the United States, Farid Abboud, protested: "If you want simply to demonize or eliminate one side, you're not going to advance the issue. If you are going to focus on one side simply because of the political message, it's unacceptable and it's a grave breach of the freedom of speech.". and by French academic and Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson.
In 2006, the US terrorist designation was extended to all Lebanon Media Group outlets, and its financial assets were frozen by the US Treasury.
Broadcasting restrictions
In October 2003, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) launched an investigation into it, leading to Al-Manar's suspension from the Television and Radio Broadcasting Services PTY (TARBS). The investigation related to accusations that it "broadcast programs that are likely to incite or perpetuate hatred against or gratuitously vilify any person or group on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality, race or religion" and suspicions it might be in breach of Australian Federal anti-terrorism law. TARBS stopped broadcasting al-Manar on 5 November 2003, and went into receivership. In August 2009, Al-Manar received approval for broadcast by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
In November 2004, after the controversy in France about Al-Manar's broadcast of Ash-Shatat, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) entered into an agreement with the Lebanese Communication Group under which the channel would not air material that would not "respect the political, cultural and religious sensitivities of Europeans" and "not to broadcast programmes likely to cause problems with public order". Within days, the CSA deemed Al-Manar not to have met this, citing an interviewee accusing Israel of spreading AIDS in the Arab world in November 2004, and a clip "inciting violence" against Israel, leading to the removal of the channel from both Eustat and Arabsat. French officials also cited other broadcasts saying Jews "seek children's blood to bake into Passover matzoh." Other broadcasts cited by the CSA as racist incitement were "Flambeau sur la route de Jérusalem" and "Le Prince du paradis".
After the U.S. Department of State placed Al-Manar on the Terrorist Exclusion List in December 2004, transmissions to North America via Intelsat's satellites were blocked. Javed Iqbal, a resident of New York City, was the first person to charged under this law. He was charged by federal prosecutors with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization by broadcasting Al Manar to American customers via his company HDTV, in exchange for thousands of dollars payment. In a 2008 plea bargain, he agreed to serve a prison term of up to years. Saleh Elahwal, who also operated HDTV, was also charged and went on trial 5 January 2009. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, says it's constitutional for the government to outlaw businesses with direct operational ties to terrorist organizations, and media outlets that directly incite and direct violent action, but in this case, the government is trying to stop the spread of ideas. Mark Dubowitz, who founded the Coalition Against Terrorist Media in part to stop Al-Manar, said Al-Manar was "shouting fire in a crowded theater", although Lieberman disagreed with that metaphor.
In 2005, the Dutch Media Authority "discovered that a satellite owned by New Skies Satellites was carrying Al-Manar and has ordered the company to stop doing so, because the channel did not have the required Dutch licence."
In 2013, Bahrain blocked its website.
Internet and social media
The channel provides a live feed of its programming on the Internet through its website. This effectively circumvents the bans as Al-Manar is still available in all the areas it does not broadcast to via satellite.
Twitter removed its account in November 2019.
On 22 June 2021, the official Al-Manar website domain as well as dozens of other Arab news network domains related to Iran, Lebanon and Syria were shut down by the government of the United States for spreading disinformation. It was also banned by multiple social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit.
Broadcasting via illegal IPTV services and streaming devices
According to a 2008 report by the security company NAGRA and the Digital Citizens Alliance, following an investigation into illegal IPTV services and illicit streaming devices, it indicated that 50% of these services include Al-Manar, making it available in countries where the channel has been banned due to links with Hezbollah.
On October 26, 2020, the Digital Citizens Alliance released a video warning of terrorist content that could include several of these illegal services, including Al-Manar.
Google and Apple applications
On 25 July 2012, Al Manar launched an application through Apple's iTunes app store and Google Play. However, the application was removed from iTunes after four days and Google Play after six. Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications for the Mena at Google, subsequently stated that "We remove applications that violate our policies, such as apps that are illegal or that promote hate speech" although she added that "We don't comment on individual applications – however, you can check out our policies for more."
According to MEMRI, Al Manar TV subsequently blamed "Israeli incitement against Al Manar TV" as the reason Al-Manar mobile apps were removed by Apple and Google. An Al-Manar TV reporter stated that: "Al Manar TV is once again targeted by America and Israel. The removal of the channel's mobile apps from the Google and Apple stores is a new attempt to curb Al-Manar's message of resistance.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement issued on 16 August 2012, Al Manar says it is "back on Ipad and Iphone applications via alternative ways, following the campaign carried out by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League to deactivate Al-Manar applications on smart phones at Google Play and apple store". To avoid distributor policies and control, the new applications were downloadable directly from Al-Manar's website, which was hosted by a British server.
In March 2014, Al Manar relaunched their application in Apple's iTunes store under the name "LCG." It launched a new iPhone app in 2016, called "Trust News".
See also
- al-Manar (for the early 20th century journal of the same name)
- Mohammed Hassan Dbouk, accredited al-Manar journalist believed to have misused his credentials in support of Hezbollah militant activities
- Television in Lebanon
- Al-Ahed News
- Al-Manar Football Festival
- Al-Nour
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading
- Kelly McEvers, Inside Manar, On the Media, National Public Radio, 26 January 2007
- M. Zuhdi Jasser. Al-Manar: Satellite Propaganda Network . Homeland Security Network. 17 October 2011