Al-Manar Television or sometimes called Hizbulla TV or hezbollah Television, is a Lebanese TV station.
Al Manar TV broadcasted its first terrestrial signal on the lebanese land in 1991. In the year 2000, Manar Television began broadcasting via satellite. The Channel approached Arabs and Muslims all over the world.
Al Manar Television is an active member of the Arab states broadcasting union, part of the Arab League.
According to Al Manar Television, They assume an objective policy motivated by the ambitions of participation in building better future for the Arab and Muslim generations by focusing on the tolerant values of Islam and promoting the culture of dialogue and cooperation among the followers of the Heavenly religions and human civilizations. It focuses on highlighting the value of the human being as the center of the Godly messages which endeavor to save his dignity and freedom and develop the spiritual and moral dimensions of his personality.
Also according to Al-Manar, they try to avoid cheap incitement in dealing with developments and activities, and they stress objectively on the adoption of the fair and just causes of the whole nation.
Al Manar Television which is considered to be the official Media source for Hizboulla which is considered by some as a terrorist group is banned from broadcasting in many countries including North America and France.
The station was hacked during the Lebanese Israeli war, when a series of pictures and messages, apparently from Israeli-backed hackers, have appeared on Al Manar television. Few messages showed pictures of corpses. Other messages labeled Hassan Nasrallah, Hizboulla leader as a liar.
Due to the harsh image which the station broadcasts during war times, it was banned and deamed as a terrorist media.
The U.S. Treasury Department in March of 2006 labeled Al Manar Television as a Global Terrorist Entity and a media source for the Hezbollah terrorist network. The designation froze al-Manar”s assets in the United States and prohibited any transactions between Americans and Al-Manar Television.
During the summer of 2006, a New York man was arrested with charges that he conspired to support a terrorist group by providing American residents with access to Al-Manar TV, Hezbollah”s Satellite television channel.
Javed Iqbal who runs a Brooklyn-based company called HDTV Corp; HDTV Corp is registered with the Federal Communications Commission that provides satellite television transmissions to cable operators, individual customers and private companies.
During the Israeli Attacks on Lebanon, Al Manar Television headquarters and relays accross Lebanon were severly targeted. However the station continued its normal broadcast and survived the war.
Today Al Manar Television is the official media source of Hassan Nasrallah who uses his station every now and then to send his thoughts and ideas to his followers. Al Manar has a huge base of people who watch the station in Lebanon and few Arab countries.