The BBC’s Jim Muir in Lebanon provided us with what I thought was an uncomfortably pro-Hezbollah report this morning on the Today programme (8:32)…perhaps he had some of those Hezbollah ‘minders’ ‘editing’ his report.
Justin Webb told us that the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech which ‘horrified’ Syria watchers.
Muir didn’t seem too concerned…in fact he seemed quite upbeat about it.
Firstly he told us that people have rather overlooked the involvement of Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict.
Could that be because the BBC has been rather remiss in reporting that involvement as I have noted before.…Hezbollah were already well known to be heavily involved in fighting in Damascus on Assad’s behalf.
If you look at this report from the beginning of May by Paul Danahar, linked to on this morning’s Today ‘Live Page’, there is one thing missing..no mention of Hezbollah…he mentions the ‘rebel’ side’s allies…Jihadists and criminals…oh and denounces Saudi Arabia’s involvement as ‘selfish’….but no Hezbollah nor any such link to Iran or comment about Iran’s motives…merely noting Iran is providing arms to Assad….nothing about Iran wanting to wipe out Israel?
‘The situation has been further complicated by the introduction into the arena of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and armed criminal gangs. The vacuum created by Western inaction has been filled by two of the Gulf states – Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
These are both sorely undemocratic states, they are not champions of democracy either at home or abroad. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are meddling in Syria for thoroughly selfish reasons. Freedom, democracy and human rights have absolutely nothing to do with why they are arming the rebels.
President Assad’s Alawite community is a splinter from the Shia faith – its closest allies are in Shia Iran. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia hates Shia Iran, so it is using the war in Syria to try and weaken it.’
Fairly strong attack on the Saudis…why not for Iran as well?
Muir in his report, tells us that there is a creeping involvement of Hezbollah….well they’ve been there a long time. He tells us they were there to protect the border villages initially…but they are fighting, and have been for a long time, in Damascus and other strategic towns.
We then get to Nasrallah’s speech which the BBC kindly offer large portions of to us….
What did it say?
Basically that Israel and America are behind the attacks on Syria and the ‘Resistance’ will be encircled if Syria falls…Palestine will be lost and the people and states of the region will face a bad and harsh oppressive future…[ with Israel and the Americans in charge].
Justin Webb comes in and says the danger is that Hezbollah’s enemies will get back at them not in Syria but in Lebanon.
So just who exactly are Hezbollah’s ‘enemies’? Does he mean those nasty, aggressive Israelis?
He might have done. Muir assures us that Nasrallah has done everything he possibly can to head off the possibility of regional war and that he has demanded that the fighting has to stop…Hezbollah won’t allow sectarian fighting to spread elsewhere.
Nice to know we have the peace loving (Islamic so must be ) Hezbollah reining in the war mongering Israelis and Americans.
Nasrallah, we are told, has promised victory…as he delivered over the Israelis in 2006 Muir says.
No gloating from Muir there at all, I’m certain.
Muir introduces Nasrallah’s next clip by saying ‘Let’s listen to those stirring words from him’
Stirring words?
From the leader of what is a terrorist organisation?
This report from the BBC’s Jonathan Marcus gives a much better, not hard to do, perspective on the involvement of Iran and its motivations.
A little bit slack from Muir that he doesn’t mention Iran and its involvement with Hezbollah and their intentions towards Israel…giving the sense that Hezbollah are the ‘peacemakers’ in the region…the Today programme is supposedly the prestige, renowned jewel in the BBC’s news output…but so often it provides half the story…and as in this case seemingly half the story from one side of that story…giving the impression of bias…unintended I’m sure.
BBC Watch has a look at one of Muir’s reports from a few days ago on the same subject which does detail Iran’s involvement…so why not on the Today programme which has such a large and influential audience?.
Nasrallah lives underground I kid you not, because he knows if he sticks his head above it, some IAF apache will send him straight to his 72 virgins, so much for his great victory in 2006, Better keep taking his vitamin d caps’. No mention by the bBBC of the threat to the north of Israel by these militants, terrorists, savages. Hope I haven’t crossed any red lines.
I heard on this morning’s Today programme that William Hague wanted the EU to lift its embargo on arming the opposition in Syria and at least I got a taster of why (my own view is for the West to keep out in spite of, or probably because of, the BBC which usually sounds desperate for the UK to provide active support). But as usual I have learnt more from this site about the wider implications (thank you Alan including for your links) in 5 minutes that the BBC has provided in 2 years of reporting about Syria.
SYRIA.
Isn’t UK’s political class (from Hague to INBBC) proposing a pro-Sunni military line which may suit Woolwich Islamic jihad murderers?
“Syria conflict: EU considers amending arms embargo”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22677599
The Brits and Yanks have always supported the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists behind the scenes….bulwark against nationalist Arab dictators and the Soviets.
Not to mention the Saudis…who return the favour by ‘investing’ in the UK..funding jihadis…sorry, schools, universities and Islamic cultural institutions….it helps of course to have links at the highest level of society…royal families interminglng and aristos marrying into Islam…george osbornes brother for instance.
The ‘impartial’ al-beeb shilling for terrorist Hezbollah? Well that won’t do good with their pro-Brotherhood audience.
Let’s face it, in Syria, al-beebzeera is caught between the hammer and a hard place as they cannot scapegoat UK, US or Israel. Heartbreaking.
Yes its been interesting observing how the BBC handle this one where it is difficult to blame the west. No doubt they will be pushing the angle that the west is to blame for not intervening. Which, given the influence the BBC has over UK politics, may lead to the UK participating in some form of western intervention. The BBC can then side with the next load of Muslim outrage about the intervention. That will fuel their need for something to be outraged about regarding Britain’s oppressive and morally bankrupt foreign policy for another decade.
My advice to the government is to ignore the BBC , they only speak for a tiny % of the voters, the liberal elite. The rest of us don’t care much about some far away country of which we know little.We are much more interested in stopping terrorism at home. Just let the Syrians get on with it. I’m sure it will all work out for the best.
Terrible to hear Hague claiming that the muslims would be ‘radicalised’ if we did not provide them with weapons in Syria?????????????????????????????????????? WTF if this guy on??????
This whole debate is ridiculous. Hezbollah are helping Assad fight the mad islamic fundamentals yet they are bad. The British are financing the same al qaeda elements and you cast doubt on our politicians sanity quite rightly. Yet you refuse to comment on the BBC total comliance withe the Israeli targetting of the Assad arms depot which by any account was an act of war aimed at destabilising Syria and you reguse to even acknowledge that Israeli field hospitals have been set up to treat injured free syrian army combatant many of whom will undoubtedly be al qaeda. The BBC to my knowledge hasnt even reported this. By the way Iran has never said they would wipe Israel off the map.why when their president as the telegraph printed a couple of years ago is descend from sephardic jews himself. How curious. Lets cut to the chase. The only power who gains from its neighbours return to the stobe age is Israel. Their immediate neighbours are being knocked off one after another.
its a confused mixed up war in syria that has all the hallmarks of the bosnian conflict where you did not who was fighting who and what for,all fairness to mark urban the dilplomatic and defence correspondent for the bbc who seems to be the only guy who can make sense of what is really going on in syria with non biased reporting on this conflict.