Dalal Saoud, Hezbollah’s ‘Support Front’ at UPI

Dalal Saoud, reporting from Lebanon for United Press International, has "opened a support front" — to borrow from her own ambiguous terminology — on behalf of Iran proxy Hezbollah, a designated terror organization.

Previously, we noted earlier this month that she had falsely reported that Iran’s June 7 attack on Israel was the first time the Islamic Republic attacked the Jewish state on Hezbollah’s behalf. While UPI neglected to set the record straight, McClatchy commendably deleted Saoud's piece from two dozen of its North American newspapers where the story had appeared.

In that June 9 article, and in multiple other items including the June 17 analysis headlined "Hezbollah chief sets 'mutual security' as ceiling for Lebanon-Israel negotiations," Saoud euphemistically refers to Hezbollah's unprovoked Oct. 8, 2023 rocket attacks on Israel, one day after Hamas' brutal terror invasion of southern Israel, as an unspecified "support front."

"Israel launched attacks against Hezbollah after it opened a support front for Gaza on 8 October 2023, killing its top leaders and military commanders, as well as thousands of fighters, and reoccupying parts of southern Lebanon," she reported in reverse chronological order.

The language disparity is striking, starting with the forthright "Israel launched attacks" followed in reverse chronological order by the vague language describing Hezbollah's initial assault on Israel: "it opened a support front." Who "it" is isn't necessarily clear. And how are readers supposed to understand that "support front" means rocket attacks against Israeli communities?

Saoud's pro-Hezbollah partisanship in the June 17 article doesn't end there. Without making clear at any point that Hezbollah, a designated terror organization, has zero role in the Israel-Lebanon talks hosted by the United States, Saoud misleads: "As Lebanon engaged in U.S.-mediated direct negotiations with Israel to stop the war despite Hezbollah's objection, Qassem set new terms for the talks."

What she doesn't say is that Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is in no position to set terms for the talks. As UPI's Paul Godfrey reported June 4 about the Israeli-Lebanese talks:  "Hezbollah was not represented at the talks . . . ."

In addition, Saoud uncritically cites Qassem's praise for Hezbollah "confronting Israel and thwarting its "Greater Israel" project and likewise reports without challenge:

Qassem said his group was fighting Israel to defend the "existence... and future of our people," as well to prevent it from controlling and "settling in our land."

But Saoud inexcusably ignores the Lebanese president's emphatic condemnation of the terror organization for dragging the country into war and endangering the Lebanese nation.

As Agence France Presse reported April 27:

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that direct negotiations with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah, while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of “treason” in an implicit rebuke to the Iran-backed armed group. . . .

He added: “What we are doing is not treason; rather, treason is committed by those who take their country to war to achieve foreign interests.”

“Some hold us accountable for deciding to go to negotiations on the pretext of the lack of national consensus, and I ask: When you went to war, did you first obtain national consensus?” Aoun commented.

In addition, UPI's Saoud states as fact and without attribution casualty figures provided by the Hezbollah-run Ministry of Health:

More than 3,826 people have been killed and 11,851 injured since March 2, when Hezbollah resumed fighting after 15 months of relative inactivity.