Fact Checking the Arab Media

On April 1, 2022, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV aired a report as part of its news bulletin prepared by Ali al-Reda Berro on aid that Britain offered recently as a donation to the Lebanese army. The report claimed that the aid was “just junk” and interviewed a retired army officer, Amin Hoteit, who concurred that the British aid was "useless." Hoteit, who is known for being close to the Hezbollah-led "Resistance Axis," further asserted that the British aid is merely "an in-kind, simple donation that can make no difference at all." He went on to say that the Western aid to the army only aims at preventing the Lebanese from accepting aid offered by China, Iran, and Russia, recognizing, he added, that the army is not accepting this aid because of American pressure.

For his part, the reporter wondered: "Why are those who claim to be supporting our army and country disrespecting us? Do we have to accept anything coming from the West even if this is a facemask or just junk? Why are they celebrating this junk and calling it aid while we, our country, and our army are not allowed to shake the hand that actually wants to provide us with arms and really help us to become strong?"

The Al-Manar report was aired one day following an event organized at a Lebanese army barrack in Kfarshima during which the British Ambassador in Lebanon, Ian Collard, offered, the Lebanese armed forces, among other items, spare parts for the army's Land Rover military vehicles, valued at one million pounds sterling.

On April 4, 2022, the British embassy in Beirut released a clarification regarding the event. It should be noted that the British ambassador and his embassy team cannot communicate with media outlets affiliated with Hezbollah or anyone from the Party since the UK classified Hezbollah as a terrorist group in 2019:

The Embassy’s explanations coupled with the additional photos asserted that Al-Manar’s claim about “junk” aid was false and that “all the Land Rover spare parts donated last week were new as seen in the photos.” The statement added: "A photo of a mechanical workshop was taken during the ambassador's tour in the facility where the army's military mechanics explained how routine maintenance and training are performed between the Lebanese and the British armies with used spare parts.”

On April 11, the British ambassador conducted a joint interview with a number of media outlets where he directly answered questions regarding British aid to the Lebanese army. The ambassador was asked whether the British donation to the Lebanese army was old and “just junk.” He responded that he had visited the Kfarshima barracks affiliated with the Lebanese army’s logistical unit in order to offer a British donation “of which I was proud, and the value of which amounted to one million pounds sterling. The donation consisted of Land Rover spare parts recognizing that these military vehicles constitute the backbone for the army transportation inside the country and on the borders. I can assure you that all these pieces of equipment were new. As for the photo that was carried by some media outlets with claims that the photo shows old spare parts, this was taken during the tour we had in the barracks where there is a workshop to repair old spare parts. These were not part of the British donation. In addition, there are British mechanics in Lebanon to help provide technical support to the Lebanese army on how to use and maintain these pieces of equipment.”

Fact Check Assessment: False

The report aired by Al-Manar TV is false as it relied mainly on one photo from the event at the army barracks in Kfarshima showing old spare parts from the mechanical workshop and presented this photo to the viewers as being a British donation to the army while the real donation consisted of new pieces of equipment and spare parts as indicated by the British ambassador Ian Collard in his interview and also by the statement of the British embassy coupled with relevant photos.

In general, readers and viewers should take particular care in evaluating claims made by media outlets owned by state governments and especially political parties since their reporting on enemies – or designated terrorists for that matter - is especially prone to being influenced by narrow state or party interests.