On the morning of April 1st the BBC News website published a report credited to Hugo Bachega in Beirut and Emma Rossiter in London which currently goes under the headline “Four killed in Israeli strike on Beirut, Lebanon says, despite ceasefire”.
As the text of the report shows, the BBC could have worded its headline in a way that informed readers that two of the “four killed” were Hizballah operatives but – notably – chose not to do so. [emphasis added]
“An Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs has killed a Hezbollah official and three other people, Lebanon’s health ministry says, putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group.
The strike also injured seven people, the health ministry said.
The attack was the second on the Dahieh area, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, in recent days, despite the truce that came into force in November.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hassan Bdeir, who it alleged had helped Hamas plan an attack against Israeli civilians.
Hezbollah confirmed Bdeir had been killed along with his son, who was also a member of the group.”
Further on in the report, readers are told that:
“Later, Hezbollah issued a brief statement that confirmed the deaths of Bdeir, who it described as a “commander”, and his son, Ali.”
Contrary to the BBC’s claim, the “fragile ceasefire” which came into effect in November 2024 was signed by Israel and Lebanon rather than by Israel and “the Lebanese armed group”, as the BBC euphemistically chooses to describe the widely designated Hizballah terrorist organisation.
The BBC’s explanation of the background to the strike which took place in the early hours of April 1st is based entirely on a statement put out by Israeli security forces:
“The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Israel Security Agency (ISA) and Mossad spy agency said in a statement that the military conducted a strike in the Dahieh that killed Hassan Bdeir.
They said Bdeir had “recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them in planning a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians”.
“Due to the immediate threat” posed, they added, Israeli forces “acted to eliminate him and removed the threat”. The statement did not give details about the alleged threat, and indicated that the Israeli military would continue to carry out attacks in Lebanon.”
Remarkably, Bachega and Rossiter erased from audience view the part of that statement noting that Bdeir was “a terrorist in Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and the Iranian Quds Force” and they did not provide BBC audiences with any further relevant information in their own words.
As reported at the Alma Center:
“According to the IDF spokesman’s statement, he [Bdeir] operated under Unit 3900, a joint unit of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. Their main mission is to cooperate with Palestinian terrorist organizations to carry out terrorist activities against Israeli targets and interests in Israel and around the world (similar to Units 910 and 133) and to provide financial support, knowledge, and means. In addition to operations in various countries around the world, one of its main theaters of operation is Judea and Samaria.”
Ynet reported that:
“According to Israeli intelligence, Bdeir played a central role in a joint terror network involving both Hezbollah and Hamas operatives […] The network was reportedly planning an imminent large-scale attack abroad, which officials said could have killed hundreds of Israelis had it been carried out.”
Nevertheless, already in the opening paragraph of their report, Bachega and Rossiter chose to frame the strike eliminating a terrorist planning an imminent attack as “putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire”.
The BBC journalists also promote statements along the same lines from Lebanese officials who have so far failed to fully implement the terms of the ceasefire and from a member of Hizballah:
“Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike, calling it a dangerous warning.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it was a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire. […]
During a visit to the scene of the strike, Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar said the group was exercising “utmost patience and restraint”, but warned that “this patience has limits”.”
As documented at The Long War Journal, additional Hizballah parliamentarians made similar statements.
Interestingly, it was that Hizballah narrative portraying Israeli counter-terrorism operations as endangering the ceasefire – rather than the activities of terrorists planning a mass casualty attack – that Bachega and Rossiter chose to amplify in their report.
