Hezbollah blurred the line between its so-called “military” and “media” wings this weekend, and probably placed Western correspondents at greater risk.
Mehdi Kanso, the group’s intelligence chief, who took part in the 2006 abduction of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev was recently seen conducting surveillance of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah’s not supposed to operate near the border, so what did Kanso tell a UNIFIL patrol? According to Israeli media reports:
Kanso was apparently allowed into the border area with the equipment after telling UNIFIL troops that he was a reporter for Hizbullah’s television station, Al-Manar.
This presents an interesting conundrum for the Committee to Protect Journalists. It’s reasonable to expect the CPJ to denounce Kanso, whose stunt endangers journalists. But in 2006, the group idiotically denounced Israeli airstrikes on Al-Manar facilities, writing:
While Al-Manar may serve a propaganda function for Hezbollah, it does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function, according to CPJ’s analysis.
A Washington Times commentary I’ve referred to several times explains the flaw in the CPJ’s logic:
But as the Treasury Department made clear, the issue is not al Manar’s role as a television station but its role in facilitating the activities of Hezbollah, an organization that has killed more Americans than every other terrorist group save al Qaeda.
“Any entity maintained by a terrorist group — whether masquerading as a charity, a business or a media outlet — is as culpable as the terrorist group itself,” said Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.
Related reading: Terrorist Television
