''The Lighthouse'') is a Lebanese satellite television station owned and operated by the Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah,[5][6] broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon.

[9] It is banned in the United States, France, Spain, and Germany, and has run into some service and license problems outside Lebanon,[10] making it unavailable in the Netherlands,[11][12] Canada, and Australia.

[13][14] 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.

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.

Until then the station was featured by the following providers at one time or another: According to the BBC on 26 July 2006, Al-Manar had three satellite signals:[29] By 2004, Al Manar was estimated to hold 10-15 million viewers daily worldwide.

The Israeli bombing increased the station's popularity: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.

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, Hebollah 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.

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."

According to Avi Jorisch of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the best known of these is Beit al-ankabut (The Spider's House); its title alludes to a metaphor, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah often employs to describe Israel.

Guests include well-known journalists, analysts, writers, Lebanese politicians, spokespersons of terrorist groups, and Islamic scholars, who then discuss current religious, political, and cultural, regional and global topics.

[57] 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.

[58] 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,[22][1][9] and even a children's program called Al-manr al-saghir (The Little Manar), which is in the style of the US show Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, targeting three- to seven-year-olds.

The 2002 program Faris bi la jawad (A Knight without a Horse orThe Horseless Rider), which was produced by an Egyptian, was based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an old Russian antisemitic text claiming a conspiracy of Jews control the world.

[9] According to The SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism, "Al-Manar does not claim neutrality but bills itself as partisan to the cause of its constituents, initially, the disadvantaged and poor Shi’ia of [Lebanon's] South and the Beka’a valley; later expanded to include the Arab and Islamic worlds."

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah often "calls for 'Death to America'" on the channel and the Statue of Liberty is depicted "as a ghoul, her gown dripping blood, a knife instead of a torch in her raised hand.

The station also archives short video clips of family members or friends of martyrs praising their sacrifice and explaining why it benefits the country.

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.

[72] 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.

[75][76][77] In the past, Al-Manar TV has aired material deemed antisemitic by Reporters Without Borders as well as Jewish groups, including content based on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

[74][78][79] 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.

[78] On 13 December 2004, the French Conseil d'État, the highest administrative court in France, ordered the French-based Eutelsat Satellite organisation (owner of Hot Bird 4, which had transmitted the station) to shut down Al-Manar broadcasts.

[80][81][82] Initially, Al-Manar defended Ash-Shatat as "purely factual",[2] and said that the French response was political and not legal, influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbies.

[85][86] A US government spokesman said the decision was taken because of "its incitement of terrorist activity", and that anybody linked to Al-Manar would be refused a visa to enter the US or if present in the US would be subject to expulsion procedures.

[86] Reporters without Borders opposed the designation, saying "Some of the anti-Semitic statements broadcast on Al-Manar are inexcusable but putting this TV station in the same category as terrorist groups worries us and does not strike us as the best solution".

[90][28] In May 2023, the US government sanctioned and took down a number of Hezbollah-related web domains, including that of Al-Manar TV, after Hezbollah was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.

[92][93] 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.

"[50][98] Other broadcasts cited by the CSA as racist incitement were "Flambeau sur la route de Jérusalem" and "Le Prince du paradis".

[99] 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.

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.