MIDDLE EAST: Al-Manar is still broadcasting in spite of Israel's missiles, writes Mary Fitzgerald in Beirut
Somewhere in Beirut, most likely underground, the reporters and presenters of Al-Manar TV are scrambling to put another day's programming together.
The headquarters of the controversial Hizbullah-linked satellite TV station, situated close to the militant group's flattened offices in south Beirut, has been completely destroyed following sustained Israeli attacks, but the station has continued to broadcast from a secret location, believed to be a specially-built bunker.
A scaled back staff churns out a daily mix of news reporting, talk shows and phone-ins interspersed with non-stop replaying of the Hizbullah propaganda videos that have gained the station international notoriety and led to its banning in most of Europe and the US.
Despite the air strikes directed at it, Al-Manar - its name means lighthouse or beacon in Arabic - has broadcast almost continuously since the crisis erupted last week. Hizbullah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, used the station to first announce the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers, and most recently appeared on its screens to declare open war against Israel.
"There is the possibility that we can be targeted at any time, so we're keeping staff to the minimum," Ibrahim Mussawi, an editor at Al-Manar, told The Irish Times. "It is very difficult because the main station has been destroyed, yet people are managing. It is as important as ever to keep broadcasting no matter what. This is an important part of the resistance and we are committed to that."
A typical day's schedule in the past week has included the usual Al-Manar fare of Koranic recitations, news bulletins presented by women in neatly pinned Islamic headscarves and solemn studio discussions held against a backdrop of the Lebanese flag.
The high emotions triggered by the Israeli bombardment play out in often tumultuous phone-ins during which angry, emotional and often hysterical viewers denounce Israel and praise Hizbullah with numerous declarations of 'Allahu Akbar [ God is Greater]' while presenters nod sagely.
The studio broadcasts regularly fade into fast-paced Hizbullah propaganda montages featuring heavily armed militants drilling, taking part in massive rallies, and carrying out attacks on Israeli forces.
Other clips juxtapose images from the funerals of Hizbullah fighters and leaders with an admiring pan across a line of rocket launchers.
Nasrallah is shown in slow motion, speaking at Hizbullah parades and congratulating fighters. The station also lifts footage from Israeli TV to include in their videos, Hebrew script appearing below pictures of the destruction wrought by Hizbullah rocket attacks in the last week. One montage ends with a Star of David exploding into flames.
One lengthy and recurring clip shows grainy footage of the damage caused by Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, home to Al-Manar until it was bombed last week.
In between, an elderly woman wearing a headscarf stands among the ruined and burning buildings, shaking her fist at the sky and cursing Israel and America. Another montage uses a speech by US president George Bush about bringing democracy to the Middle East as a voiceover for a gruesome series of graphic images showing the dead and injured of the last week.
Hizbullah has long used media as a psychological warfare tool and Al-Manar, since it beamed its first signal in 1991, has played a leading role. During the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the station was used to glorify Hizbullah's military manoeuvres.
Al-Manar cameramen often travelled alongside Hizbullah fighters, providing dramatic up-close footage of bomb attacks against Israeli forces.
Only too aware of Al-Manar's influence and audience of millions, Israeli forces have directed much of their fire at the station, hitting not only its main offices but also striking two of its transmitters.
The attacks have been criticised by a number of organisations, including the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "The Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on civilian targets unless they are used for military purposes. While Al-Manar may serve a propaganda function for Hizbullah, it does not appear, based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today, to be serving any discernible military function," the CPJ said.
Hizbullah has denied in the past that it controls Al-Manar, a claim taken sceptically by most, given that a large number of the station's shareholders and staff are members of the militant group. Elsewhere, the station has been accused of anti-Semitism as well as inciting hatred and terrorism. In 2004 the US State Department designated Al-Manar a terrorist organisation and France banned its broadcasts through the European satellite, Eutelsat.
The station provoked outrage some years ago by broadcasting a series titled The Diaspora based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a discredited 19th-century tract that alleges a Zionist conspiracy to take over the world. More controversy followed when one guest declared on a live show that Zionists were trying to spread diseases, including Aids, in the Arab world.
The Israeli government has made no bones about its justification for attacking the station in this week's relentless bombardment of Lebanon, saying it does not consider the station a conventional media outlet.
"The Al-Manar station has for many years served as the main tool for propaganda and incitement by Hizbullah, and has also helped the organisation recruit people into its ranks," it said in a statement.