The battle of perception: From Israel’s Fauda to Hezbollah’s FPV footage
The footage lasts just three minutes. An Israeli flag flies over a position in the village of al-Bayada, in occupied southern Lebanon. One drone approaches the flagpole while another observes from above. The flag falls after the impact. The final frame displays a digitally rendered, torn Israeli flag with the words: “Al-Bayada does not welcome you.” The video’s caption reads: “Flag lowering ceremony”. This is the latest video released by Hezbollah, which reflects a broader context beyond a single hillside in southern Lebanon. Journalists and observers who covered southern Lebanon in the late 1990s may recall Hezbollah’s media strategy before the Israeli withdrawal. Al-Manar TV functioned as more than a television channel; it operated as a psychological campaign in plain view. Repeated footage of Israeli soldiers screaming after being attacked with a roadside bomb, retreating, positions abandoned, and flags lowered, created the perception in the Arab world that Israel was already departing before any official decision to do so had been taken. Back then, the image pushed forward a new reality, one that played a vital role in mobilising support for Hezbollah and adding pressure on the Israeli government internally to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. Then the withdrawal occurred in May 2000, and to many, it felt like a natural result of all that was happening. This approach was never abandoned, but it became unnecessary for a long period due to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s commanding presence and speeches. Advertisement For two decades, Nasrallah was the face of the media war. A man whose son was killed in battle. A leader who said things and then made them happen. What he had could not be taught or replicated; it was credibility accumulated over years of real achievement, giving him the rare ability to reshape how his audience understood events. When something went wrong, he could reframe it. When a setback came, he could place it inside a longer story that made sense. He was the frame that held everything together. The war in Syria badly damaged Hezbollah’s image. Seeing its fighters in Qalamoun, Aleppo, Homs, and other Syrian cities, in what much of the Arab world saw as a sectarian war, was hard to absorb. But Nasrallah was there to absorb it for his base, give it logic, and keep the narrative from collapsing. He framed it as a war to preserve resistance against Israel, rather than one to defend an ally combating a revolution. Without him, the organisation could have faced an even worse image, not only among his critics but also among his supporters. The image itself could not survive without him. Then came 2024. Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders, was killed in Beirut at the end of July. Less than two months later, the pager operation tore through Hezbollah’s ranks, hundreds of devices detonating at once, an intelligence penetration so complete it felt almost unreal. Then the assassinations kept coming. Senior commanders, one after another. And on September 27, Nasrallah himself was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut. His successor, Naim Qassem, was the deputy leader for 30 years. His organisational capabilities helped the party restructure and rebuild, but he is not a communicator. What Nasrallah had was not a transferable skill. It grew from decades of confrontation, presence, and delivery. Qassem’s words lack the crucial layer of strategic narrative his predecessor mastered. So Hezbollah’s media machinery, which always depended on the leader’s voice to shape everything, found itself, for the first time in decades, without a centre, without the voice capable of putting things together, and giving a hint to supporters of what’s to come. As for Israel, its communications strategy wasn’t something it wandered into by accident. For years, Israel had been building it on two tracks simultaneously. The first was operational. A well-resourced apparatus of military spokespersons, carefully managed press access, and rapid-fire media briefings, all designed to get the Israeli military’s version of any story to people’s mobile phones and newsrooms before any alternative could take hold. Advertisement An investigation by Swiss public television SRF released in October revealed how the Israeli military had been quietly producing slick 3D animation videos weeks before major operations, ready to deploy the moment the strikes began, justifying hits on hospitals, residential blocks, and civilian infrastructure. Many broadcasters ran them, and many did not even ask questions about the accuracy of what they were showing. The second track was cultural and ran deeper. Fauda, the Netflix thriller written by veterans of Israeli undercover units, spent several seasons building audiences worldwide, painting Palestinian and Hezbollah fighters as brutal and ultimately incompetent, always outthought, always outmanoeuvred. Tehran, on Apple TV+, did the same job on Iran: Mossad as professionals, the Islamic Republic as a paranoid bureaucracy lurching from one failure to the next. Neither series was crude propaganda, and that was their leverage. They entered living rooms in countries with no prior opinion or knowledge of the conflict and quietly arranged the furniture before the next war arrived. When Israel attacked Iran in June 2025, a LEGO animation video with the soundtrack from Tehran started circulating online. The Iranian responded with another LEGO video that didn’t leave a real impact, but it was just the beginning. By the time the United States and Israel launched their campaign in February, aimed openly at Iran’s nuclear programme and its leadership, Tehran had assembled a media response that caught many observers off guard. Explosive Media, a Tehran-based group producing animated short videos in English, began releasing Lego-style animated films at a pace matching the news cycle. One showed US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beside the devil, looking at Epstein Files, before Trump presses a button and a rocket flies towards Iran. The camera then cuts to the rubble of an Iranian girls’ school that was attacked by Israel and the US military. In another video, missiles are flying towards their targets, each dedicated to a different victim
At least eight killed in Israel’s air attacks on southern Lebanon
Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue despite the ‘ceasefire’ that was recently extended until the beginning of July. Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026 At least eight people have been killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, in the latest violation of an ongoing “ceasefire” agreement, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). Israeli fighter jets struck in the village of Doueir on Wednesday, killing five people and injuring two others, NNA reported. Several homes were flattened in the attack, the agency said. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Another Israeli attack killed two people near a hospital in the village of Tibnin, while one person riding a motorcycle was killed in a drone attack on the village of Burj Shemali in the Tyre district, NNA said. The Red Cross said it recovered the body of one person on the outskirts of the town of Shebaa in the Nabatieh governorate. Israeli attacks across Lebanon continue despite the United States-mediated “ceasefire” that was recently extended until the beginning of July. The fresh wave of Israeli attacks came hours after at least 16 people were killed in Israeli air attacks across southern Lebanon on Tuesday. The Health Ministry said three women and three children were among the victims. Moreover, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said its forces clashed with Israeli troops trying to advance to the centre of the village of Haddatha late last night. The group also reported clashes with Israeli forces in the town of Biyyada and the municipality of Rashaf. Attacks on eastern Lebanon ongoing Israeli forces continue to expand their military campaign beyond the country’s south into the western Bekaa Valley. Advertisement “For weeks, the Israeli army has been targeting Muslim Shia majority villages in the western Bekaa Valley where Hezbollah has support,” Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported. “They lie on the road that links the southern front-line villages to the east of the country.” Yousef Hasan, displaced from the town of Yuhmor, called Israel “an expansionist state that kills women and children”. “They don’t believe in borders. For them, the border is as far as Israeli soldiers can reach. It is a state that occupies others’ lands,” Hasan told Al Jazeera. Since March 2, Israel has killed 3,073 people in Lebanon and injured 9,362 others, and displaced more than 1.6 million, about one-fifth of the country’s population, according to Lebanese authorities. Israeli forces have also destroyed entire villages in southern Lebanon, prompting comparisons with the devastation caused by Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Oscar-winning director calls Trump, Netanyahu and Putin ‘monsters’
Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar called Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin ‘monsters’ during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, where he wore a Palestine solidarity pin. Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Bodies of Italian divers recovered from cave in Maldives
NewsFeed The bodies of two of five Italian divers who died in a deep underwater cave in the Maldives have been recovered. Authorities are investigating what caused the experienced group’s deaths. Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
China’s Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Beijing
BREAKINGBREAKING, Xi and Putin hold talks just days after US President Donald Trump made an official visit to China. Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026 A meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin has started in Beijing, Chinese state media reports. Xi welcomed Putin on Wednesday to the Chinese capital, shaking hands with the Russian leader outside the Great Hall of the People in advance of their talks, video by Russian media showed. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Before entering the Great Hall, Putin and Xi walked down a red carpet, rolled out to greet the Russian leader, and stood as a military band played their two national anthems. Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said the visit by Putin and that of the recently concluded trip by US President Donald Trump are very different as the Russian leader is marking 25 years of Sino-Russian friendship and Putin has already visited China 25 times so far. “So this visit will really be about deepening existing coordination and cooperation,” Yu said. “We are expecting that the two sides will update each other on the situation in the Middle East as well as Ukraine. No doubt Xi Jinping will also talk to Putin about what was discussed with Donald Trump last week,” Yu said. Putin is being accompanied by a large delegation of Russian businesspeople and government leaders, Yu said, adding the Kremlin had announced the two leaders will sign some 40 different agreements covering everything from the economy and tourism to education. “But I think for Putin the main topic of discussion with Xi Jinping is going to be on energy security,” Yu added. This is a breaking news story. More to follow soon. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Republican Thomas Massie who stood up to Trump defeated in Kentucky primary
With an estimated 72 percent of the vote counted, Ed Gallrein led with 54.4 percent to Massie’s 45.6 percent. US President Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party as Kentucky voters ousted one of the few conservative lawmakers willing to openly challenge his authority. Congressman Thomas Massie‘s defeat, which was predicted by US news networks, including NBC and CNN, about two hours after polls closed on Tuesday, marks another victory in Trump’s campaign to punish dissent within Republican ranks. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list With an estimated 72 percent of the vote counted, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein led with 54.4 percent of the vote to Massie’s 45.6 percent. The Associated Press news agency called the race for Gallrein, whose campaign was backed by Trump’s endorsement as well as millions of dollars from pro-Trump and pro-Israel political lobby groups. The contest, widely described as the most expensive House of Representatives primary in US history, saw more than $32m spent on advertising and offered the latest evidence of Trump’s hold over Republicans. It followed the primary defeat on Saturday of another Trump critic, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, as well as losses for dissenting Republican state lawmakers in Indiana earlier this month. “Massie got Trumped. Donald Trump is the sun and the moon and the stars in the Republican Party in Kentucky,” Kentucky-based Republican strategist TJ Litafik said. A test of Trump’s influence The Kentucky vote was closely watched as a test of whether Trump’s hold on Republican voters remained firm despite concerns over his war on Iran, growing inflation and declining personal approval ratings, and whether there was still space in the party for lawmakers willing to break with him. Advertisement Massie had angered Trump by opposing US military action in Iran and Venezuela, criticising aid to Israel, resisting parts of the president’s agenda, and backing efforts to release files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president spent months attacking Massie, a libertarian-leaning seven-term congressman, calling him a “moron”, a “nut job” and a “major sleazebag”. “Dealing with him is just horrible. I don’t think he’s a Republican… He’s not a libertarian,” Trump told reporters after polls opened on Tuesday. “Sometimes they say he’s really a Dumb-ocrat. He votes against us all the time,” Trump said, using a nickname he frequently deploys against Democrats. ‘I’m not running against President Trump’ In the northern Kentucky city of Covington, Rob Barkley, a former Trump supporter who backed Massie, said the president’s attacks had pushed him further towards the congressman. “He’s on the Republican side, so he has a conservative mindset,” Barkley told US media after casting his ballot. “But he’s not as far-right leaning as Trump’s politics,” he said. Massie, who voted with Trump roughly 90 percent of the time during the president’s second term, framed the contest as a broader test of independence within the Republican Party. “I’m not running against President Trump. Most of the people voting for me support President Trump like I do,” Massie said. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also made a rare appearance in Massie’s district on Monday to campaign for Gallrein. Federal law restricts government employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty, but Hegseth’s office said he attended in a personal capacity and that no taxpayer money was used. Trump later revealed that Hegseth’s campaign appearance came just hours before the US had expected to launch a new military assault on Iran, although the operation was later postponed. Several US states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania, held primaries on Tuesday in advance of November’s midterm elections, but the Kentucky race emerged as one of the night’s most closely-watched contests. Massie, first elected in 2012, had long been one of Trump’s most persistent Republican critics. Adblock test (Why?)
Tata-ASML deal: How significant is it for India’s semiconductor push?
India’s Tata Electronics has signed a deal with the Dutch technology giant ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) to build India’s first front-end semiconductor fabrication plant as New Delhi pushes to develop a domestic semiconductor manufacturing base. Front-end manufacturing refers to the building of microscopic circuits onto a blank silicon wafer using specialised lithographic machines. ASML is a pioneer of lithographic technology used in the mass production of microchips across the world. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “India’s rapidly expanding semiconductor sector represents many compelling opportunities, and we are committed to establishing long-term partnerships in the region,” ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said. Semiconductor chips power modern technology and are critical for everything from smartphones and cars to artificial intelligence systems and defence technology. The agreement was announced during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the Netherlands, which ended on Sunday. So what do we know about the deal, and what does it mean for India’s artificial intelligence ambitions? What are the details of the deal? Under the agreement, ASML will supply advanced lithography technology to Tata Electronics, which is a subsidiary of the multinational Tata conglomerate, for the manufacture of 300mm wafers. Tata Electronics plans to invest $11bn to build India’s first semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. “ASML will enable the establishment and ramp-up of Tata Electronics’ Dholera Fab with its holistic suite of lithography tools and solutions,” the companies said in a joint statement. Advertisement The plant will produce chips for sectors that include automotive manufacturing, mobile devices and AI applications. Currently, India imports the bulk of its microchips because it does not manufacture advanced chips (such as sub-7 nanometre, or nm) for AI and smartphones. In October, India unveiled its first indigenous semiconductor chip – the Vikram-32 (Vikram 3201). It is a 32-bit microprocessor designed for space launches. ASML, Europe’s biggest technology company by market value, can provide India with the technology considered essential for advanced chip manufacturing. The Dutch company said it would help “establish and ramp up” production at the planned plant by supplying its cutting-edge chipmaking tools. Tata Electronics has also teamed up with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), which is helping set up the plant. The company is a major semiconductor powerhouse, specialising in the making of memory chips. According to Tata, PSMC will share access to a “broad technology portfolio”, including 28nm, 40nm, 55nm, 90nm and 110nm chip-making technologies. The plant is expected to be ready by 2028, according to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw. India has increasingly partnered with Taiwan firms for technology transfers, supply-chain integration and workforce development as it tries to build a domestic semiconductor ecosystem. India and Taiwan have seen increased trade in recent years, including in technology and AI, reaching $10bn in 2024. Taiwan is a major player in the production of global semiconductors. What are 300mm semiconductor wafers? The Gujarat plant will manufacture chips using 300mm wafers, the global industry standard for advanced semiconductor fabrication. A 300mm wafer is a thin circular slice of silicon on which chips are built. Larger wafers are important because they allow manufacturers to produce more chips per production cycle, lowering costs and improving efficiency. Many cutting-edge chips used in AI servers, data centres, smartphones and advanced vehicles are produced on 300mm wafers. In the semiconductor supply chain, 300mm fabrication is at the core of the front-end manufacturing process. This stage involves designing and fabricating integrated circuits onto silicon wafers before the chips are cut, packaged and tested in later back-end stages. Why is the deal significant for India? For India, the deal is both industrial and strategic. It furthers self-sufficiency and strengthens ties with Europe, with which it signed a “mother of all deals” free trade agreement in January. Advertisement “India is seeking to build out its semiconductor industry by building 12nm chips. ASML can supply the equipment needed to produce them,” Sujai Shivakumar, a director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera. “In this respect, it is an important development in the growth of markets for ASML as well as the capacity for production within India.” According to analyst Harsh V Pant, the deal is one of the “most important semiconductor developments India has seen in recent years”. The deal is significant because it signals a shift in India’s role in the AI economy “from mainly software services and AI talent toward owning part of the physical infrastructure behind AI itself”, Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera. “It may not necessarily make India a semiconductor powerhouse overnight, but it is probably the clearest sign yet that India wants to become a serious semiconductor manufacturing nation, a trusted geopolitical tech partner and eventually an AI infrastructure player, not just an AI consumer,” he pointed out. “I think that’s why this deal is important and this is something that India would be carrying forward.” It also supports the government’s broader push to position the country as a major global technology and AI player. “India trails only the US and China in terms of AI competitiveness,” Shivakumar said. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s chip design engineers are Indians. So New Delhi can use this talent pool in its pursuit to become a hub for semiconductor research and development. However, Shivakumar says the industry, including the design part, is “inherently complex” and “globally interconnected”. “Indian engineers working for US companies are part of this ecosystem. I think what we’re seeing now is an intensification of those connections,” he added. The European Union sees India, the world’s most populous nation, as an important trading partner and market for its goods and services amid the tariff war unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. Experts said the deal is highly significant for India because semiconductor manufacturing is seen as essential for technological independence. However, India’s push to ramp up semiconductor
Former US negotiator with Iran: Trump falling into Vietnam trap
Rob Malley argues that current talks have ‘very small chance of success’. When United States President Donald Trump measures success by counting how many Iranian leaders the US and Israel have killed or how many Iranian boats or missile launchers have been destroyed, he’s looking at the “wrong metric”, argues a former US special envoy to Iran, Rob Malley. Malley told host Steve Clemons that the only way out of this war is “a settlement that respects our core interests, but also theirs”. To calculate the odds of a deal, Malley said, psychologists may be more useful than experts because “it really depends on the mindset of President Trump.” Published On 18 May 202618 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Could the Iran war trigger the next debt shock?
Government Bonds are under pressure and households could soon feel the impact. Borrowing costs in major economies have hit their highest levels in nearly two decades.Investors have been shunning government debt and demanding higher returns.They worry that the Iran war could keep oil prices and inflation high.The International Monetary Fund warns that global debt could approach World War Two levels.At the centre of it all is the US, which largely sets borrowing costs worldwide.That means higher mortgage repayments and car loans, more expensive credit, as well as rising business costs passed on to consumers.For developing nations borrowing in dollars, it puts even more pressure on stretched budgets. Published On 18 May 202618 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Israel kills at least five in Lebanon after ‘ceasefire’ extended
At least five people have been killed as Israeli air attacks hit several locations in southern and eastern Lebanon. A series of Israeli air attacks on southern and eastern Lebanon has killed at least five people and injured more than a dozen, according to the Health Ministry. Despite Israel agreeing to a ceasefire extension with Lebanon, the attacks on Sunday included the municipalities of Tayr Felsay, Tayr Debba, Az-Zrariyah and Jebchit. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), at least three people were also killed in a separate Israeli attack on the village of Jouaiya. The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders to residents in the villages of Sohmor, Roumine, al-Qusaibah, Kfar Hounah and Naqoura in southern Lebanon. “It’s been another violent day here in southern Lebanon,” reported Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto, from the southern city of Tyre. “As the ceasefire comes into place, we have seen the exact opposite happening with Israel intensifying its attacks,” he said. At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “holding territory, clearing territory, protecting Israel’s communities, but also fighting an enemy that is trying to outsmart us”. Since the war resumed on March 2, at least 2,988 people have been killed and 9,210 injured in Israeli attacks across the country, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday. Talks in Washington Sunday’s attacks followed talks in Washington, DC, where the two countries agreed a 45-day ceasefire extension – even though the original accord which began on April 17 has never been observed. The third round of talks in the US capital concluded after the first direct meeting in decades last month between Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations. Advertisement NNA reported that the ceasefire extension is intended to allow for a US-facilitated security track to begin on May 29, with the next round of talks between the two sides planned for June 2 and 3 in Washington, DC. Hezbollah opposes direct negotiations, especially as Israeli forces continue to bomb southern Lebanon and occupy parts of it since the ceasefire. “The direct negotiations that the authorities in Lebanon have conducted with the Israeli enemy have … led them down a dead-end path that will result in nothing but one concession after another,” Hezbollah legislator Hussein Hajj Hassan said on Sunday. “Neither they nor anyone else will be able to carry out what the enemy wants, especially when it comes to the issue of disarming the resistance,” he said, adding that authorities were creating “very big predicaments” for the country. On Saturday, Hezbollah said it struck a military target in northern Israel, having earlier announced several operations against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The war is having a disastrous humanitarian impact. Between March and April, more than 1.2 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to fighting, according to the Danish Refugee Council. The conflict is pushing the economy towards breaking point. Bassem El-Bawab, head of the Lebanese Business Association, said the country has suffered more than $25bn in direct and indirect losses since Israel’s war started in 2024. Around $12bn will be needed for reconstruction, with El-Bawab warning that the total could rise further if the conflict continues. He added that Lebanon is losing about $30m daily in indirect economic damage, alongside the direct destruction of homes, businesses and infrastructure. Adblock test (Why?)