By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-04-21

Media outlets of all types affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -- the so-called "resistance media" -- serve as a weapon more dangerous than Iranian missiles, journalists and media watchers told Al-Fassel.

Ever since the IRGC Quds Force began "exporting Iran's revolution," it has given deep attention to media operations, said Mazen Zaki, director of the Ibn al-Walid Center for Studies and Field Research new media department.

"This has evolved since the beginning of the 1980s to date to include the use of all available means" to further Iran's expansionist agenda, Zaki told Al-Fassel.

Efforts began with the dissemination of inflammatory cassette tapes, videocassette tapes and propaganda leaflets and the establishment of radio stations, television channels and newspapers, he explained.

The newspapers "were distributed free of charge on a wide scale," he said.

With the construction of its media platform in Iran and the region, the IRGC "was and still is following a clear approach, which is to mix religious and sectarian issues with political issues through incitement," he said.

It is designed to give the target audience "the impression that they are oppressed and need to be liberated," he said, via slogans about fighting to end the so-called "tyranny" of the West and some Middle Eastern countries.

As the springboard of the Iranian "export" project, Hizbullah's media operation in Lebanon is a clear example of this strategy in action, Zaki said.

The party's Al-Manar satellite channel was and continues to be the linchpin of the "resistance media network," and is largely financed by Iran at an annual expense of tens of millions of dollars, according to intelligence sources.

Hizbullah's media operation has branched out into radio stations and Al-Ahd newspaper, which began in print and is now online, and has spawned many supporting satellite TV stations, such as Al-Mayadeen, Zaki said.

This was presented to the public as an independent news channel, before it later became clear that it was funded by the IRGC and was following and promoting the Iranian line, he said.

The Iran-backed party also controls hundreds of social media channels and accounts, a so-called "cyber army" that spreads disinformation and threats.

Fueling tensions in Yemen

Iran-affiliated media outlets also have been able to "drive a major rift in Yemeni society," said Yemeni journalist Mona Mohammed, who now resides in Cairo.

"It is clear that this rift was being set up over the course of many years through the creation of both sectarian and tribal tensions," she told Al-Fassel.

Today, for example, the Houthis' Al-Masirah satellite channel is promoting the use of medium-range missiles and drones to support Hamas, "under the guise of supporting the Palestinian cause," she said.

"People's emotions are being whipped up in an unprecedented way by making the Houthis appear to be invincible heroes" who are taking the initiative militarily, she said.

The Houthis' media efforts are designed to convince people in Yemen and beyond "that what is happening must be done and everyone should support them to achieve the supposed victory," she added.

Inflammatory messaging

In addition to fanning sectarian sentiment, the IRGC-affiliated media machine is promoting the necessity of what it refers to as "resistance," Lebanese journalist and Hizbullah opponent Hussein Qassem told Al-Fassel.

This type of inflammatory messaging provides a pretext "for Iranian proxies wherever they are to set up missile platforms and aim them at Israel," he said.

The placement of missile platforms in residential areas of Lebanon has had devastating repercussions for Lebanon and its people, he said, and has placed civilians and civilian infrastructure in danger.

This has prompted thousands of Lebanese of all sects to flee en masse towards areas far from the theater of operations to preserve their lives, he said.